Tails of Valour and Spots of bronze
by MiraculousXD
Summary: Marinette came to Bardengrad looking for answers well, technically she came to protect the Princess, Chloe, but she didn't expect to find herself in a web of oddly themed super villains, leather clad cat boys and a plot to destroy them both.
1. Chapter 1

**Marinette-**

Bardengrad is a hideous depressing country, at least, that was my first impression when we entered the country and saw nothing but miles of land with nothing but a few scarce ugly trees, miles of weeds, and cows. Actual cows just roaming about wherever they went.

Then after three days of travel through the empty dusty wilderness passing through hideous town after hideous town, we finally laid our eyes on our future home, the capital of Bardengrad, Heilstrom.

It was... underwhelming. We had heard tales of it's grand glistening architecture and lively bustling streets but it was just a large tightly packed conglomeration of cold stone buildings.

"Oh." Rose said in a low surprised voice.

Rose had been the one most enthusiastic to see the glorious city Heilstrom, and she was probably now the most disappointed.

"It could be worse." Alya said, "At least they probably have running water."

"It's so... sad." Mylene commented.

It was sad. Nothing like the warmth and joy of Aristol. There was no color, no decoration just bleak stone walls and rusty metal.

"I like it." Juleka said and we all chuckled.

We approached the city gates and we all moved out horses into formation, Juleka and rose on the left side, Alix and I on the right with Mylene bringing up the rear and Alya in the front.

Alya turned to us just before we hit the gates.

"Alright ladies, put up your guard, be on the look out, we're almost there."

We all in unison brought down our hoods and brought up our scarves to be sure that our faces were covered. I was behind Alix, watching her twitch nervously towards the throwing knives that were sheathed in her legs.

I sighed deeply, everyone was on edge, we've trained our whole lives to protect one person and here we are marching her into enemy territory.

They lowered the gate for us and we crossed over it slowly in silence as the people stopped their busy lives to stare at us, The foreign princess and her guard.

I scanned the streets looking for potential threats, my eyes catching on the faces of the people who looked terrified of us. Our pace was maddeningly slow compared to the last three days of hard travel, we were finally at our destination and here we are, crawling down the streets towards the castle.

I stared, interests in these foreigners who lived different lives and had different interests. Their clothing was pretty but formal, no color, just shades of grey and beige. Just like the city itself, the people looked lifeless.

Staring into the crowds I saw nothing suspicious, nothing that felt dangerous until I found myself staring into a pair of green eyes. A man, tucked back a ways behind the crowd leaning into the shadows, his face was masked and his clothing was black, nothing stuck out to me except for his stark green eyes that seemed to glow in the dark.

He was staring at me, just as intently as I was staring at him and I felt my hand go to my scabbard at my side and he smirked in a way that seemed to say "do it, I dare you."

I rolled my eyes and tightened my hand on my reigns and looked back to the crowds and when I looked back to the spot I had seen those green eyes earlier, I found that they were gone.

 **Adrien**

-.-

Today was the day Adrien Agreste would meet his future wife, the future mother of his children. Today is the day he would meet his partner in life, his future queen, but no matter how he phrased those words in his head, they couldn't erase the sickening feeling in his stomach.

"Adrien, I want you to wash up and prepare yourself for their arrival, I have just received words that they are approaching the gates."

he nodded, grateful that he was being given a chance to escape. Adrien stood up from his lunch and left without another word, heading towards his rooms. Trying to restrain himself from breaking into a sprint.

Adrien entered his rooms and wasted no time heading across the room to enter the servants door. he went down the hall a little then through a small door on the left.

"Ugh where are we going?" Plagg asked in an annoyed voice. "All the Camembert is back in your room!"

"Sorry buddy, I just can't help myself, have to see her, I have to see what she's like."

"She probably just like all Princesses, you've seen one, you've seen them all."

Adrien pushed aside the wooden beams that blocked the entrance to the catacombs and entered, hugging the wall closely in the dark.

"I've never seen any Princesses."

"And I'm starting to feel as though I've never seen my pillow, my cheese. I can't remember the taste anymore, it's all fading fast. Too fast! I think I'm dying!"

The kwami twirled in the air dramatically and landed on Adrien shoulder giving off a few pathetic coughs to get his point across.

"Plagg will you stop being so dramatic? We'll be back there in no time and I'll see if the kitchen can't arrange anything special for you."

Plagg puffed up his chest, considering his options.

"Fine, but you owe me."

Adrien smiled broadly, "Plagg, Transform me!"

He followed the quick way out that led out and into an old funeral home that had been out of business for several years, he climbed up to the broken second story window and he leapt out.

Staying mostly in dark alleyways, trying to find the most subtle way to size up his Princess.

He perched himself in an alleyway over the crowds of people who were watching in awe as these foreign people traveled by.

He was hoping to catch a glimpse of the Princess herself but it seemed as though she was in the carriage with the countries seal on it.

The most of the foreigners all wore bright and ornate robes. Adrien scanned the marching caravan looking for signs of anything positive, anything that would make himself feel better about the union, but being here did nothing but discourage him. That is, until his eyes fell on a pair of blue eyes.

The face was hidden beneath a black mask and the hood came over hiding everything except those Blue eyes that were glued to his.

Those blue eyes that seemed intelligent, honest, and determined.

These blue eyes were the one thing that finally soothed his nerves but created even more at the same time. When they had finally broken eye contact, Cat Noir retreated further back into the alley way, feeling as though there was a spotlight on him.

Even half way home, he was unable to shake the butterflies that those blue eyes had stirred, and he wasn't sure that he wanted to.

 **Marinette-**

We continued the rest of the walk towards the castle those eyes, seared into my brain. One thing was certain, that man was trouble and I didn't need any trouble.

When we finally rode into the courtyard we all stopped in front of the greeting party, lined ourselves in two rows leading to the door of the carriage and kneeled silently as the footman opened the door.

Sabrina stepped out first, lending her hand to her Lady who stepped out in the same loud annoying way that she did everything.

"Oh look Sabrina, a welcome party, for me!"

She passed us all and walked straight up to the welcoming party and started making introductions sending all of us off our knees and standing behind the princess protectively.

She was supposed to wait for the Heilstrom ambassador to introduce her first, but when it came to the princess, nothing is ever done right.

"Your grace, the crown Princess Chloe Bourgeois, you cannot tell how happy we are to be welcoming you here. If you would come inside, I can show you where your rooms are, our servants will bring your bags up to your room and our stable hands can take care of your horses."

Chloe took the hand of the woman who was welcoming her and started walking up the stairs and Alya turned to us,

"I will accompany her grace, through the castle Juleka, Rose, you two accompany the servants and ensure that the luggage goes where it belongs, unharmed and untampered. Alix, ascertain where we will be staying and start take our things there, Mylene, Marinette, you two take care of the horses. When you are all done, report to your rooms and wait for me. Understood?"

We all nodded in agreement and we all separated according to Alya's commands. Mylene and I, both of us holding three horses each, followed the stable hands towards the stables.

The stable hands could handle the four docile horses that pulled the carriage, but we didn't want them handling our horses.

"Alya, just assigned me to the horses because she knows that I'm allergic" Mylene said while trying not to sneeze.

"No." I said, "Alya, assigned you to the horses because she knows that you think they hate you. She thinks you need to spend more time with them."

Mylene stared suspiciously and Rose's horse, "I don't think they hate me, I know they hate me."

I laughed and started unsaddling as fast as I could, excited to see where I would be rooming for the foreseeable future.

Once they were all unsaddled and brushed off, we led them into their stalls and fed them.

"They're going to have to get used to this." Mylene said, looking around the boring stables. "It's going to be a lot more different than the green pastures that they're used to."

"Something tells me that there's going to be a lot that we all have to get used to." I said while putting away the tack in the room that the stable hands showed us.

"Some more than others." I muttered under my breath.

"It's going to be harder here, isn't it?" Mylene asked in a soft tone.

"What's going to be harder?" I asked.

"Everything."

I nodded softly

"Yeah." I grabbed her shoulder an brought her outside the stables towards the castle. "Let's go."

we walked up the stairs but we were stopped when we were about to walk through the grand doors but we were stopped by a guard.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked us.

"trying to get inside." I said, "Why?"

"Yeah, I don't think so, use the servants entrance."

I smiled sweetly under my scarf, and tried to look as intimidating as I could.

"What makes you think that we're servants?"

He laughed, "You're women."

"We are part of the royal guard from Aristol, we are not servants."

"You are all housed in the servant quarters, so I suggest you hop off your high horse Miss high and mighty."

I clenched my fists, I wanted to hit this rude person but Mylene pulled on my arm,

"Marinette, let's go."

I backed away and let go of the anger I was holding.

"We are NOT servants." I fumed to Mylene after we had gone down the stairs and headed in the direction that the man had pointed towards.

"No, we are not." she agreed, "But things are done differently here, we may have to adapt."

I sighed, she was right.

We found the door easily as there were several people walking in and out, going about their chores. We walked in and asked where we were to be housed and we were pointed down a hallway.

We followed the directions and ended up in a huge room with several beds.

"Great." I said aloud. It was much less grand than the quarters back at Aristol, there was no privacy, I did not like this.

"Mylene!" Alix shouted from across the room. "Here, you can take care of your things, you have no idea how long it took me to get your trunk here, what did you pack in it?"

Mylene smiled, "Oh, you know, the necessities."

I laughed and found my own trunk at the foot of a bed next to a window. I opened it and peeled off my cloak and scarf setting them inside the trunk.

"That feels good. I hate the uniform, it's so... confining."

Alix threw Rose's bag onto her bed, "Well get used to it Marinette, we're going to be wearing it for a long time now."

I sighed and sat on my bed and watched Mylene gleefully unpack all of her things

"Did you pack the entire armory?" asked Alix.

"No, like I said, just the essentials, you never know what you might need."

"Did you need to bring the mini cannon?" I asked watching her push the heavy thing under her bed.

"Of course, what if I need it?"

Alix and I laughed and Alya came through the door.

She threw her cloak down on the bed closest to the door sat down sighing loudly.

I smiled, "Having fun Alya?" I asked an she threw herself back onto the bed.

"great fun." she murmured. "How about you."

"We were just discussing the uses of Mylene's mini canon."

Alya sat up, "Well I hope she brought it, we might need it."

This sent Alix and I into a fit of laughter and Mylene blushed slightly.

"Where are Rose and Juleka?" Alix asked

"Oh, they're searching her grace's rooms and when their done they'll be down here. the princess declared that she was fatigued and she will be napping for the next few hours as will I be."

"And I will be following your lead captain." Alix said before collapsing onto her own bed.

"We had all better get some sleep." Ala said, "The king said that he was throwing a feast tonight to celebrate our arrival, so tonight we will be very busy."

Alix groaned and turned over in her bed using her cape as a blanket, "Please wake me and tell me that this has all been a nightmare."

I ignored her and turned to Alya,

"So, you met the king? What's he like?"

She made a weird face and shook her head. "He's... exactly what I expected the king of this country to be like, cold."

I laid back trying to image a stern faces king sitting on a lone throne.

"His son though...," Alya continued, "Well let's just say that I think I heard her grace let out a scream when he came into the room... he's very, pretty."

"Ooh, someone's got a crush." I said mockingly

"No, trust me, he's not really my type, but he sure is something to look at."

"Hm, we'll see." I said doubtfully, I couldn't imagine that he'd be much different than the joyless bland people we'd passed on the way in.

I turned over in my bed and closed my eyes exhausted from the hard travel and unenthusiastic for the future.


	2. Chapter 2

**Marinette-**

I woke up to the sound of the others bustling about. I swung my legs off the bed groggy

"Ugh, what time is it?" I asked Rose who was sitting in the bed next to mine.

She just shrugged, "I don't know, but Alya just woke us all up and said that if we wanted dinner tonight that we need to be out the door in ten minutes.

This sent me off the bed and rummaging through my trunk to make sure that I had all the components of my uniform. By the time I had put on my cloak, the gloves, the scarves and secured my weapons, everyone except Mylene had left.

"Come on Marinette, I'll walk with you."

I shook my head and waved her on. "No, you go ahead, this might take me a few minutes, I need to reorganize my stuff."

Mylene waved and left the room and I finally knelt down in front of my trunk, digging through all my stuff to get to the very bottom where I had stuffed a small wooden jewelry box.

I pulled it out and put on the earrings that the box contained. Tikki appeared suddenly and I broke into a grin.

"I missed you." I said warmly and she flitted around, looking at our new room.

"Wow... there's not much privacy is there."

"Yeah, I was worried about the same thing, we'll figure something out."

"What do you think about it?" she asked about me.

"What do I think about the room?"

"No, what do you think about the town."

"It's... different. I don't much care for it to be honest, but I can make the most of it."

Tikki nodded and smiled, "That's my girl."

Alya poked her head in the room and Tikki zipped into my cloak.

"Marinette, are you coming?"

I stood up, "Yeah, I'm coming."

I followed her into the dining room.

"We're going to be spread pretty thin, we need three of us on perimeter two on room security and one needs to keep an eye on her grace at all times."

I nodded, "Any idea on who you want to put where?"

"I'll post Juleka outside of the balcony so we have a good view of the whole garden area. Rose can be on Princess duty, Mylene and I can take the room security and I think I'll put you and Alix on perimeter."

I scrunched my nose up, thinking of the next few torturous hours killing time outside in the cold.

"Don't give me that face, remember what happened last time you and I were room security?"

I felt my face grew hot at the reminder of the time I had accidentally dumped a glass of wine on Lady Bustier.

"That was not my fault I am not a trained waitress."

"Then why would you tell the waitress that you would take the tray of wineglasses?!" Alya asked while laughing.

"She said she had an emergency!" I explained. This was a conversation that we'd had nearly a dozen times before but something tells me that Alya will never let it go.

She held up her hands in defeat, "Okay, okay, but you're still guarding the perimeter. You don't work very well in a social environment."

I didn't argue any further, she was right, I'm a klutz, I've never gone through an entire ball without doing something extremely embarrassing such as stepping on, and tearing, some Duchesses dress, spilling any number of things and Alya's personal favorite, tackling some poor Lord who was just reaching into his jacket for a cigar.

I was definitely better off outside.

We finally entered the servant's dining hall where everyone else was eating and we sat down grabbing as much food as we could while Alya updated the rest of the women on the plan between mouthfuls of food.

After an early dinner we all had out own assignments of duties before the feast and mine was to accompany Her grace and Lady Sabrina as they walked through the gardens for a bit of fresh air.

"It certainly is hideous here, isn't it Sabrina."

before Sabrina even had time to chime in her agreement Chloe continued on,

"The Gardens could use a splash of color, I'm thinking that we uproot all of these hideous plants and plant something more pleasing like roses, Oh yes, you know how I love roses Sabrina. I have a lot of work to do if I want to make this country look presentable everything is so depressingly hideous."

I rolled my eyes dramatically, she wasn't even Queen yet and she was already making plans to uproot their entire garden, I don't envy the poor gardener.

I was staring at the interesting plants that seemed so foreign, Every plant was covered in spikes. The bushes, the flowers, even the trees had small pointy quills sticking out of every place.

Chloe let out aloud squeal that scared me to death, I turned towards whatever Chloe was looking at, one hand on my sabre and one hand ready to grab the princess and force her behind me.

When I finally saw the reason she was squealing in a high pitch voice I rolled my eyes again. She was looking at a boy.

"It's him Sabrina, Adrien. Adrien!" Chloe shrieked across the Garden at the boy walking towards us.

I creeped closer to Chloe as he approached, making sure that I was there in case anything happened. As he drew nearer I found a full appreciation for the Royal guard's uniform, especially the fact that a scarf covered the majority of out faces so that I could openly gawk at him without anyone realizing.

Alya was right, he was very pretty. He greeted Chloe cordially and took her arm in his and I didn't hear a single word that came out of his mouth as I was staring at his earth shattering smile.

I felt like I was melting.

 **Adrien-**

Just a quiet walk in the garden. That's all Adrien wanted, a quiet walk enjoying the natural beauty of the place that reminded the most of his mother, and it was a pretty quiet, calming stroll until he hear the princess loudly mocking everything.

He looked over at her small party of three, the Princess, her lady in waiting, and her guard. He was curious about what she was like and found himself walking towards her.

When he grew close enough he heard the princess let out a scream as she saw him and Adrien sighed, nothing was ever simple. It could never be regular Adrien in the gardens with a normal girl, it had to be the crown Prince in the gardens with the crown Princess.

He managed to put on his best smile as he approached them,

"How are you beautiful ladies doing today?" He asked. The Princess was smiling widely up at him and the woman next to her was also smiling adoringly up at him but the guard in the back held herself stiff, her hand hovering over her sabre.

"Just fine now that you're here." The Princess said in a long flirtatious drawl and she moved forward, forcing her arm through his. Adrien took her arm and smiled at the guard trying to ease her and began making his way down the path with the princess practically glued to his hips.

"We were just talking about your gardens," The Princess said, leaning against him, "I was just saying how much I would love to unearth some of these depressing plants and plant roses, rows and rows of roses."

His eyebrows shot up, and he laughed warmly, she sure was aggressive "That's an... interesting idea, but really, these plants aren't depressing."

Adrien looked around at the garden that his mother created, there was so much beauty here that you couldn't even see.

Chloe laughed and used her arm that wasn't entwined with his to playfully tap his shoulder, "I'm sure I don't know what you mean."

He stopped suddenly and looked appreciatively a particularly prickly tree.

"When I look at these plants, I see survivors. There isn't very much rain in these parts, every plant that grows does so by barely scraping by. They all have adapted to best survive the harsh environment from the severe winds and the harsh weather."

"How interesting. You must tell me more." Chloe said and he obeyed. At first impressions, he didn't much care for the Princess but he knew more than anybody how important putting on a persona for the kingdom was. He was interested in getting to know the Princess more, to get to see past the mask she puts on for her kingdom.

His father was very clear, this alliance is happening no matter what, this was going to be his future wife. There had to be more to her than a shallow superficial spoiled woman, there had to, and he was going to find it.

 **Marinette-**

When the Prince finally left us and Chloe returned to her room to get ready for the feast I checked in with Alya before I took my post in the Eastern gardens.

"How was it?" she asked.

"Guess who we met in our stroll?"

"Who?"

"The Prince."

She broke into a smile, "What did I tell you? Very pretty."

"I thought you were over exaggerating but now I'm worried that you didn't do him enough justice. He's gorgeous."

"Sounds like someone's got a crush." she said in the same mocking tone that I had used earlier.

"Shut up." was all I replied with before taking off towards my post.

I reached the east gardens and walked around them twice to get familiar with the area. The feast was probably just starting and it would probably last all night until the early hours of the morning.

"We'll sneak out after the Princess retires for the night." I told Tikki.

"We have to be careful." she said, "This place will be a lot different than Aristol, we're strangers here."

"We came up here for only one reason and we ought to do that right before Master Fu sends us back home."

The sun fell quickly making me grateful for the long cloak that was part of the uniform and I paced the empty garden. Telling Tikki about the journey here.

It was late and I was bored to death, trying to find anything entertaining to do when I saw Alix approaching.

I walked towards her, closing the distance between us quickly, and I asked her what she wanted.

"The Princess has finally retired to bed, we're officially off the hook."

"Yes!" I said and Alix laughed

"Yeah, I feel the same way. Our orders are to do one last perimeter check and then we are free to head back."

"Thanks!" I waved towards Alix as she left and she waved back.

"Nice," I said to Tikki, "This is way earlier than I thought she would retire. We might actually get some work done tonight. Let's check the perimeter real quick and make sure everything is square before we take off."

I walked around the east gardens one last time but I paused my stroll when something slashed on the roof. I inspected closer and could make out a figure jumping from one window ledge to the other heading towards the roof.

"Do you see that?" I asked Tikki and she nodded. "Darn, I was hoping I was seeing things. Tikki, transform me."

I used my yo-yo to scale the castle and follow the dark figure and when it finally led me to the roof I lost the figure amongst all the shadows.

I moved to the edge of the castle, looking down at the city and the soft glowing lights that came from it when a voice interrupted me.

"And who might you be?"

I whipped around and came face to face with the pair of green eyes that had haunted me all morning.

"You!" I said.

The man took a step back, "Have we met?"

"Y- No, we haven't met."

I he smiled and tilted his head to the side. Now that I was close enough to him, I could see him in much better detail. He donned a hood that stuck out in two places as if he had ears he had wild blonde hair and animalistic green eyes. His face was masked and he was leaning nonchalantly on a metal baton.

"What are you supposed to be?" He asked while gesturing at me. I looked down at my outfit and then back at him. Crossing my arms and standing a little taller I glare at him, "I am Ladybug."

He started laughing and that only made me dislike him more.

"I'm sorry," he managed in between laughter, "It's just that, you are the most adorable thing I've ever seen. I mean, the spots are pretty cute but the yo-yo, now that's just too much."

I smiled sweetly and threw my yo-yo in the air letting it fold over a flag pole before falling back down and wrapping around his smug legs. I got to see the terror in his face a split second before I yanked hard and he had his legs yanked from under him.

"Your right." I said gloatingly, "The yo-yo is pretty cute, but do you know what's even cuter, kittens. So let's not mock when one of us has a few spots while the other has a tail."

I let slack into the yo-yo releasing him and dumping him on the ground.

"listen-" he said while standing up but I cut him off.

"Sorry, I'm a little busy tonight, I just came up here for one thing. I'd like you to leave, I don't take kindly to masked strangers sneaking about the castle in the middle of the night."

"you'd like me to leave?!" He demanded. "What about you? This isn't your castle, why don't you leave."

"I did not sneak up here with the intentions to do anything nefarious, I was just following you."

"Well no one asked you too, this isn't your castle."

"And it isn't yours, an unless the King personally allows you to prowl around up here, I think you should leave."

"Well maybe he does."

I rolled my eyes, I didn't have time for this argument,

"Fine." I said, "Prowl away, but if anything turns up missing or damaged, I'll find you."

I jumped onto a lower landing heading towards the city, there had to be someone who knows something about Queen Agreste's death there.

I followed the quickest route to the ground and it wasn't until I finally touched down in the east gardens that I realized that the cat boy was following me.

"Why are you following me?" I asked, irritated.

"It's annoying, isn't it?" He asked and I just rolled my eyes and continued towards the castle exit.

"Are you going to stop following me?" I asked him and he shrugged.

"Probably not."

I sighed loudly, it was going to be along night.


	3. Chapter 2 and a half

**Adrien-**

Adrien focused all his attention on the sound his glass made when he tapped it with his fork. It wasn't until his dad cleared his throat and called his name that Adrien finally looked up from his glass and smiled at the princess. Adrien didn't care for dinners like this but he knew what was expected of him.

"So Princess," she held up her hand to stop him. "No please, Adrikins, less not get formal. We are after all engaged. And besides look at us, we're perfect for each other it's almost as if we've known each other forever.

Adrien might have been put off if he hasn't seen his father violently twitching in his peripheral vision. He leaned forward and flashed another smile at the princess.

"You're right Chloe, please. Tell me all about yourself."

She started talking and once she got going about herself. It seemed that her words found no end.

Adrien cast a glance over at his father who looked calm on the surface but Adrien could see how he tight he was holding himself. Adrien smiled to himself, revelling in the fact that his father really annoyed. He looked back towards the princess. Maybe she isn't so bad after all.

Adrien's vision then scanned the room only resting on Nino for a minute. long enough to see him absentmindedly pulling at his collar as he not so subtly stared at one of the princess's guards.

His eyes followed Nino's as they landed on the cloaked figure leaning against the wall. She seemed like a statue but I could detect subtle head movements that gave up the fact the that she was following the room closely.

Adrien longed to trade her places. No one looks at her. Instead they stare openly at him, his every move being inspected by constant watching eyes. One misstep and everyone would know, but most importantly, his father would know and that would mean punishment.

His eyes darted to his father at the thought of him. His father's eyes turned to his, empty and devoid of all emotion

Adrien turned back to Chloe who was still talking, her face a much prettier picture than his father's.

The night continued crawling slowly,Adrien trying to find a way to fit in words between Chloe's monologues. every time he looked near where his father was sitting, he felt his father's eyes watching him. Adrien sighed deeply, bored. He reached across the table grabbing some cheese, pretending to eat while he stuffed it into his coat pocket, trying to make someone happy.

When the main courses were finally finished and desert was laid out across the tables, King Agreste stood, a glass of wine in his hand.

"A toast, to my perfect son and this perfect union between countries, an most of all, to our honored guest... the crown princess."

Everybody raised their glasses and cheered but Adrien remained frozen, gritting his teeth.

"The perfect son." he had said. Huh- we'll see about that.

Adrien stood and left the dining room with a short apology to the princess.

As soon as he had exited the dining hall Plagg flew out of his coat pocket.

"Whoa kid, where are we going?" Adrien took a left, the closest hall to a window, any window would work.

"We're going to cause some trouble."

Plagg laughed, "Alright! I've been waiting for this all day. Let's go."

Adrien opened the window, "Plagg, claws out."

As soon as he had transformed he lept out the window. Spotting two of the Crown Princess's royal guard right below him, he climbed up as covertly as he could, but once climbed the wall below the kings quaters he felt a presence following him.

He jerked suddenly to the left and fell behind a shadow, finally able to eye the person pursuing him. It was a woman Adrien's eyes followed her movement. She turned to look over the city, the soft glowing light illuminating her face. She was beautiful.

Adrien took a step forward, intrigued by this woman, "and who might you be?"

She turned to him suddenly, startled which made Adrien's face break out into a wolfish grin, she was cute when she was flustered. Her eyes face changed instantly in recognition.

"You!" she said in an accusatory voice.

He smiled, of course she's heard of him, must be a member of his fan club, "have we met?"

"Y-No, we haven't," Adrien couldn't stop from smiling again, of course not, he would've remembered someone with eyes like hers. He looked her over, she looked unbearably adorable in a red and black polka dotted dress, tight in all the right places, but also enough flowy fabric to make her look almost ethereal.

He leaned back on his baton trying to seem nonchalant, "What are you supposed to be?" He asked in a mocking tone, The spots were just too adorable to take seriously.

She held her head higher, and gripped her yo-yo a fire lighting in her eyes as she looked at him with confidence and grace, "I am Ladybug."

Laughter spilled out of him before he could hold himself back. She seemed small and childish,

"Im sorry, It's just that, you are the most adorable thing I've ever seen. I mean, the spots are pretty cute but the yo-yo, now that's just too much"

He only just saw the confidence die from her eyes and saw the insecurities and then the anger, and before he could even see what was happening, he was hanging upside down, he legs entangled in her yo-yo over a flag pole.

She smiled at him triumphantly, "Your yo-yo is pretty cute, but do you know what's even cuter, kittens. So let's not mock when one of us has a few spots while the other has a tail."

His face flamed red and he opened his mouth to say something but found himself dumped on the ground in the next second.

Flustered and upset, he scrambled for his baton, struggling to stand up, to say something short, "Listen-"

But, she turned to him and put her finger to his lips shutting him up rather efficiently,

"Sorry, I'm a little busy tonight, I just came up here for one thing. I'd like you to leave, I don't take kindly to masked strangers sneaking about the castle in the middle of the night."

This brought him completely to his feet, who does she think she is?!

"you'd like me to leave?!" He said growing hot in the face, "What about you? This isn't your castle, why don't you leave."

She folded her arms in defense, "I did not sneak up here with the intentions to do anything nefarious, I was just following you."

"Well no one asked you too, this isn't your castle."

"And it isn't yours, an unless the King personally allows you to prowl around up here, I think you should leave."

Adrien folded his arms trying to keep himself from shouting that it was his castle and the he could do whatever he damn well pleases

"Well, maybe he does."

She rolled her eyes, "Fine." she said, "Prowl away, but if anything turns up missing or damaged, I'll find you."

With that she lept away, "Oh no she doesn't get away with it that easily" he said to himself and grabbed his baton and followed after her.

I touched the ground only seconds after her in the gardens and she whipped around.

"Why are you following me?" she asked.

"It's annoying, isn't it?" Adrien replied smugly, still trailing her as she walked towards the city.

"Are you going to stop following me?"

He smiled realizing how much fun this was going to be, "Probably not."

She sighed in exasperation


	4. Chapter 3

**Marinette-**

I was walking down a dark empty street unsure of where to start my search. I needed information but I wasn't too sure where to get it.

"Do you know where you're going?" the annoying cat boy asked from behind me for the third time.

"yes." I said shortly.

"Really, because we've now passed this building for the fourth time. I think you don't know where you're going."

I groaned aloud, frustrated that he was still following me, annoying me to death.

"If you have somewhere else to be you can leave."

"No, I've got nowhere to be, I just thought that maybe you would like some directions."

"I don't need anything from you." I said venomously over my shoulder still looking for an inn or a pub, somewhere where I could get information.

"Really? Because that's not how it looks from where I'm standing."

I ignored him looking desperately for any sign of people. I needed a new vantage point. used my yo-yo to get to the top of the building and I looked down on the city. Cat boy followed me quickly and I found myself wishing that I had never talked to him.

"What are you looking for?" He asked as I peered over the city.

"Nothing." I said scanning the hideous buildings for lights or humans, there hast to be some place that's open right now.

"Right... you've only been walking around in circles looking like a lost puppy for half an hour."

"I have not!" I said.

He sat on the ground absentmindedly twirling his baton in his hands. "Have too."

I sighed exasperated, "Why don't you leave me alone?"

he shrugged. "If some weird Lady dressed like some sort of masked vigilante stopped you when you were minding your own business, you would be curious what she's up to."

"I do not look like a vigilante, you do."

He opened his mouth to say something sarcastic but his voice was cut off by a scream. I spun instantly to where the sound was coming from.

"What was that?" I asked and he stepped up closer towards the sound and extended his baton.

"trouble." was all he said before taking off towards the sound.

I followed him and when we arrived we saw a woman trying desperately to run away from a giant wolf.

Cat boy grabbed the woman and safely deposited her on the other side of the street and turned towards the wolf defensively.

I landed next to him ready for a fight. Not even speaking to each other, we leapt into action keeping the wolf from chasing after the woman by distracting it.

The cat boy was knocked away by the huge monsters tail and he leapt at me, pining me between his paw and the cobblestones. I use all my strength to push his giant teeth away from my face when I was finally save by the cat boy who whacked it hard with his baton.

The wolf turned back and ran away and the Cat boy helped me off the ground.

"Thank you." I said, dusting off my clothes, adrenaline coursing through my body. "Don't thank me yet." he said, his eyes pined on the building that the wolf had disappeared behind.

"What do you mean? That thing is gone." I said but as if waiting for the opportune time to make an entrance, a man came around the corner three oversized wolves at his side.

"Who is he?" I asked suddenly but the cat boy didn't answer.

"I am Lupus, My wolves were being killed for their pelts, but no longer, now they will kill you!"

The cat boy turned to me, "You have to get out of here, I'll distract them, and you run."

I scoffed loudly, as if I was ever going to run from a fight.

"I don't think so," I said, "Things just got interesting."

He faced Lupus and shook his head, "Suit yourself."

And just like that the wolves charged towards us and us towards the wolves.

"We need to destroy his shawl." The cat boy said in between attacks.

"Okay." I said, trying to find an opening in the wolves defense so that I could get to Lupus.

I used my yo-yo to tangle two of the wolves together and I leapt over their bodies charging Lupus. The cat boy was behind me, having dealt with the other wolf and Lupus fought both of us off. We needed a way to get the upper hand.

The two wolves finally untangled themselves from the yo-yo and headed our way.

"Get them over the bridge!" The cat boy said when his own wolf returned and I nodded and did as he said, baiting the wolves towards the large bridge a short ways away. I finally lured them onto the bridge and when his own wolf came up behind me I was now trapped by all three wolves with nowhere to go except down into the dangerous river below, I really hoped he had a plan.

He jumped down onto the bridge next to me and shouted, "Cataclysm!" and then he slammed his hand down to the bottom of the bridge and just like that it disappeared out from under me. He grabbed my waist and pulled me off the bridge just in time before I fell into the rivers with the wolves.

Just as we were say from the wolves, Lupus came up from behind us, "Look what you did to my precious wolves!" he screamed, "I'll get you."

He charged us, attacking us with a long sword, it was time to end this, I threw my yo-yo into the air and shouted, "Lucky charm!"

Out materialized a long scarf.

"Feeling chilly?" asked the cat boy sarcastically as he dodged attacks.

"Not quite." I said, knowing what I had to do.

The next attack that came from Lupus, I wrapped the scarf around his wrist and force his hand down and then jumped over him forcing his arm behind his back and I looped the scarf around his body pining his arms to his side.

The cat boy ripped off the shawl from Lupus's shoulders and tore it in half.

Out from the ripped fabric came a small blackened butterfly. I gasped in surprise, it was an akuma.

I opened up my yo-yo , threw it out, and caught the butterfly.

"What are you doing?" the cat boy asked and I shrugged off his question, trying to remember what Master Fu had taught me about cleansing the Akuma's.

"Deevilize!" I shouted and I let the magic do it's work and when I opened up the yo-yo and released the butterfly it was white.

I smiled triumphantly proud that I had remembered how to do that.

"What was that?" the cat boy asked.

"I was cleansing the Akuma."

"What does that do?"

"Well,if you don't deevilize the akuma, it'll come back, now it can't."

The cat boy stopped me and put his hands on my shoulders, his green eyes piercing mine.

"Do you mean that?" he asked.

"Lupus, he won't come back."

I shook my head. "It's not likely, I mean if he happened to mad about the exact same thing and then the same person sent a different akuma after him then maybe, but there's no telling what-"

I was cut off suddenly when the cat boy wrapped me in a tight hug. I hugged him back awkwardly and he pulled away smiling widely.

"What?" I asked, a little uncomfortable with this showing of affection.

"You have got no idea how long he has been plaguing this city, the people he has hurt the things he's destroyed. You're amazing."

I blushed a deep red and looked away, "It was really nothing."

"No. There's a lot of things it was but it wasn't nothing. These people, they've been living in fear but now they don't have to anymore, because of you." He stepped back slightly, probably realizing how close he was to me and he cast a sad look at the bridge.

"It's a real shame about the bridge though, it'll probably take them months to rebuild it."

His comment reminded of something I forgot to do. I bent over and unwrapped the bright spotted scarf from a very confused man and I threw it in the air shouting, "Miraculous Ladybug!" and I watched as the healing magic stretched around the scene before me and fixed everything.

The Cat Boy watched the bridge repair itself magically and he watched as all the damage from the attack was fixed. He turned to me, looking at me with awe.

"There," I said, "Now it won't take them any time at all.

"How-" he started but was cut off by a sharp beeping that came from his ring. I inspected it closely and I knew what the beeping meant and my earring let out a similar chirping.

"Hmm. It seems as though you and I must be going." I turned to leave but he grabbed my wrist and I turned back to him.

"When can we meet again?" He asked and I considered the question slightly. I had a feeling that we needed to have a conversation.

"Tomorrow night, on the bridge." and with those words we both backed away from each other, we both had places to go.

"Wait." he said as I turned my back on him again, "What's your name."

I smiled, "You can call me Ladybug, and you?"

"Cat Noir." he said dramatically with a bow, and with that, I left using my yo-yo to take me through the dark city, my mind lingering on the masked rogue.

Cat Noir, the name suited him.


	5. Chapter 4

**Marinette-**

I was exhausted the next morning after the fight last night. I have never actually fought anything, not outside of the practice ring, last night was a real wake up call.

Every muscle in my body screamed as I moved about getting ready with everyone else.

"So Marinette," Alya said, "I heard you come in late last night, what were you up to?"

I chuckled awkwardly trying to think of an excuse, "Oh you know, I was getting to know the castle, exploring and what not."

She looked at me weird, "Alright, whatever you say Marinette."

Alix came over, "I believe it, the castle is huge, it might be smart that we all learn all of it's secrets."

"There you go." I said while silently praising Alix for coming to my defense.

Alya considered this silently and nodded her head. "You're right Alix." she turned to the rest of the Princess's guard.

"Ladies, Marinette and I will be on Princess duty for the rest of the day. I want you all to use your time off to familiarize yourselves with the castle grounds and all of the people within it. The sooner you learn the ways of the castle, the sooner you can tell when something off."

I groaned slightly an fastened my cape, I pouted at Alya and she laughed,

"Let's go Marinette, Sabrina told me that they have a ride sceduled in an hour, we can go prepare the horses."

I stood up and followed her out the door.

"You know, sometime I think you do this just because you hate me."

I said as we walked towards the stables.

"Stop, you know I love you."

"Then why are you constantly subjecting me to her?"

"She's not that bad."

"Yeah, to you, she hates me."

"Would you rather I go on this ride by myself, forced to listen to her and Sabrina for the rest of the afternoon?"

I smiled, "I guess not."

"Besides," she said. "I feel I haven't talked to you in forever with everyone else hovering around. I thought this would be a nice time to talk."

"About what?" I asked

"Come on Marinette, you and I both know you weren't taking initiative last night, I want to know where you disappeared off to."

We started saddling the horses

"Alya, you trust me right?"

She snorted loudly as if I had just told her the most ridiculous thing that she's ever heard.

"Girl, I would say you're like my sister but you know how much I hate my sister." I nodded, if Alya told me she liked me like a sister then I would probably cry.

"That being said, you're my best friend and I would die for you so of course I trust you."

I nodded, I knew I was about to ask her a lot and I hoped that she understood.

"You're my best friend too. Remember that one time when I wanted to learn the fire dance to perform at the festival and you would go to practice's with me and tell me that I was great?"

She winched slightly and nodded her head, "Yeah."

"I practiced for months thinking that I was great and then on top of the stage in front of everyone we knew I looked like a seizing cow?"

Yeah." she said trying not to laugh at the memory.

"You lied to me for months because you didn't want to crush my dreams."

"Is this going somewhere, or are you just trying to make me feel bad?"

"Last night I went out into the town and I met someone. That is all I will say about it."

she paused a minute to think it all over, "Wait, so you're saying that because I said you were a good dancer, you're going to deprive me of some hot gossip?"

"No, the dancing story wasn't really related, I'm just still upset over that. My point is that I can't tell you more, and I'm really sorry but I hope that you can forgive me."

"Right..." she said trying to process everything. "Does it have anything to do with our job?" she asked and I vehemently shook my head no.

"Okay well then I guess you're entitled to have your secrets. Now this someone you met, is it a boy?"

My mouth fell open and I shook my head, "No, of course not."

She smiled wolfish, "I'll take that as a yes. Woo, look at you Marinette, going in the town, fraternizing with young men. As your technical boss, I'm upset with you, but as your best friend and relationship guru I'm proud. What have I always said? You've got to put yourself out there-"

"Stop! It wasn't a guy."

"Suuure. What ever you say." she said to me with a wing and I rolled my eyes while finishing up the horses.

"Is he cute?" she asked.

"I'm not talking to you." I said, turning my back on her.

"Dang, just how hot are we talking?" she asked.

I decided to stay silent hoping that silence was the best way to demotivate her.

"Yes Marinette! That's what I'm talking about. Now as your boss I need you to stop fraternizing with citizens and focus more on your job but as your symbolical sister and official personal advice giver, I want more details."

I rolled my eyes and found myself wishing that I hadn't told her anything.


	6. Chapter 5

**Marinette-**

It had been three hours and we were still riding in one big circle in the same field.

"They said that this is where he normally takes his morning rides." Sabrina said in a hurry, trying to console her lady.

"Then where is he Sabrina?!" Chloe demanded looking out towards the castle.

I rolled my eyes and looked to Alya who was watching with bemusement.

"Maybe tomorrow they can skip this and spend the mornings walking up and down the hallway in front of his room, which would probably be more effective and less subtle."

I laughed silently as we followed Sabrina and Chloe, listening to their mournful cries as the morning went on and there was still no prince in sight.

Alya had been trying to talk Chloe into leave back for the castle rather than aimlessly riding around, but she wasn't receptive to the idea.

"No! We packed a picnic, we cannot leave until we eat. I am starving."

"Oh, well there's a lovely spot over there in the shade of the tree's and we could-"

"No! I am not eating without my Adrien. He'll be here, I'm sure that he's on his way right now as we speak."

Alya rolled her eyes and turned to me. I shrugged, there's nothing we could do. If her ladyship wants to spend her whole day out on a horse then she could.

Suddenly a loud mournful scream filled the air and Alya and I turned to each other, it was a wolf.

"Your Ladyship, I am going to go inspect the sound, I will leave Marinette here to keep you safe."

Chloe turned to me and made a disgusted sound, "Ew, no. Send Marinette, maybe then she'll be eaten and we won't have to deal with her anymore."

She cackled on and I turned to Alya, it really was her call but I looked at her with pleading eyes and she nodded, "fine, you can go. I'll stay here."

I nodded and kicked my horse into a gallop heading to where I heard the howl. To be honest, I would have wanted to check it out even if the alternative wasn't Chloe. Last night's battle was replaying in my memories and I had to make sure the Lupus hadn't returned, that I had truly gotten rid of the Akuma.

I was nearly there when the Wolf let out another howl and began barking viciously. I kicked my horse into a faster gate and debated whether or not the situation called for Ladybug.

I finally came within view of the wolf and the first thing I saw was two horses and their riders. I went closer and saw that the wolf was caught in a hunter's trap and while one of the men held both of the horses, the other man slowly approached the wolf.

I slid off my horse and almost charged into the scene but I stopped when the man put his hand on the wolf and didn't immediately get eaten.

He gently reached down and opened the trap and the wolf sprinted away. I walked towards the men as they talked between themselves, not sure what I was going to say, but I thought I should say something.

I came closer but as soon as I saw who had released the wolf I froze both mentally and physically.

They both saw me at the same time and now it was too late to leave. They came closer and I dropped onto one knee, "Your majesty."

 **Adrien-**

It was the nervous guard from the garden who now looked so different with out her hood or her mask. I could see that she was very pretty, with small silicate features, beautiful black hair and eyes that were enchanting. She stood up from her knee very awkwardly, it was cute how embarrassed she was. Her cheeks were tinted red.

"Oh, you're one of the royal guards from Aristol aren't you?" I asked, trying to say anything to make her feel more comfortable.

"Y-yes." She stuttered out, finally adding, "your grace." After a few moments.

he smiled, "I think. I remember you, yesterday, in the garden right?"

She nodded quickly blushing even harder. Adrien held out his hand, "We haven't been formally introduced, I'm Adrien, and this is Nino."

She stared awkwardly at Adrien's hand, "I-I don't think that it's-"

Adrien instantly dropped his hand, instantly switching up tactics. There had to be some way to make this girl loosen up.

"Oh right, I forgot, you guards are all duty and politeness, please forget I said that." he turned to his Nino and elbowed him hard and then turned to me with a mock serious face an tuned to inspect his fingernails when he said, "Go on Nino, introduce me."

Nino met Adrien's eyes and they communicated silently before Nino rolled his eyes and turned to the guard. Nino tried to keep a serious face but couldn't help smiling a time or two while saying in his best pompous voice,

"His lord and highness, the Prince of Bardengrad, future ruler of the world and emperor on high welcomes you."

Adrien looked at the guard coldly, and then back at his fingernails, "Charmed, I'm sure."

The guards' face was blank until the very end when she couldn't hold in the laughter anymore and began laughing hard. Nino joined her instantly breaking out into loud peals of laughter but I was still in character.

"Are you, a common guard, laughing at me. The future ruler of this country."

The guard began laughing harder, gasping and chortling. Her laugh wasso cute and delightful that Adrien finally broke his character and joined them into laughter.

When it finally died down Adrien put out his had again, "Please, you can call me Adrien, although I know you'll refuse to. What was your name?"

She smiled warmly and took my hand, "Marinette. My name is Marinette."

Adrien rolled the name over in his head a few times and even said it out loud once. It was a beautiful name. It suited her well.

"So Marinette, what were you doing out here in the forest?"

"We were on a ride nearby and I was just checking out the forest for wolves. Speaking of wolves, that was quite the show." She said, guesturing to where the wolf was trapped.

It was Adrien's turn to become bashful, stepping back and running his hand through his hair.

Ever since he became Cat Noir he had more of an understanding with animals.

"The wolves in these parts are being hunted to near extinction, It's… upsetting some people."

If upset was a good way to describe terrorizing the city.

"Whatever it was, it was very impressive. You've got some mad skills."

Marinette stepped back, retreated back to hers horse, and pulled herself into the saddle. She looked like she was going to leave but then she turned back to Adrien and Nino.

"Your highness, I might would wonder if you would do me the favor of accompanying me to where Princess Chloe waits. She's planned a picnic and I know she would simply love your company."

Adrien sighed internally, to be truthful, he would not love to do such a thing but he could never resist a beautiful woman. So he nodded to Nino and climbed on his horse the same time that Nino did an turned to Marinette and nodded,

"Lead the way."


	7. Chapter 6

**Marinette-**

The ride itself took three hours, one hour of preparation and two hours of riding, all for a picnic that only took a grand total of thirty minutes.

"We really should be going," The Prince was saying while standing up.

Chloe stood instantly and followed him over to his horse. Not wanting to hear her overbearing flirtations, I moved over to where Alya was standing next to the Prince's friend, Nino.

"Marinette!" she said as soon as I walked up, "You will not believe this, Nino said that he plays four different instruments. Isn't that cool?"

He blushed slightly and rubbed the back of his head.

"Yep, that's quite the accomplishment." I said, distracted as I watched Chloe throw herself over the Prince. Who finally mounted his horse and nodded to Nino.

Nino turned to Alya, "It was really nice to meet you Alya, I hope that we can see more of each other soon. Maybe I could show you around the city."

She curtsied slightly and gave him her hand.

"Yes, I would like that."

He mounted his horse and left behind his Prince.

"wow." I said, after they were out of earshot, "I see why the Prince wasn't exactly your type, you've already called dibs on his best friend."

She whacked me playfully in the shoulder and we both went to clear up the picnic while Sabrina and Chloe gossiped about the Prince.

It only took us twenty minutes to ride back to the castle and when we got there, we were finally relieved of duty by Alix and Juleka.

Alya and I unsaddled the horses and went to clean up.

I told her the story of the wolf and she looked on, impressed.

"He just bent over near a wild animal and just released it without getting eaten?"

I nodded, glad that someone was as impressed as I was. "It was so weird, it was like even the wolf was gushing over how incredible he is. It just sat there and let the Prince pet it like it was a docile puppy."

"I think your crush has gone to your head Marinette."

I rolled my eyes, "I'm telling you what I saw, it's not my fault that the Prince has some Adonis like quality that makes everything around him star struck, oh and by the way, I have to disappear tonight."

Alya sat up a little closer to me and smiled secretively, "Oh?"

"Yeah, I'm meeting that someone."

"Twice in two nights? Goodness, you've gone on and on about the Prince and haven't even mentioned your mystery lover. If he was here, he'd be crushed."

"It's not like that."

"Girl, you're sneaking out in the middle of the night to meet a guy, either it's like that or you're doing something criminal, and no offense Mari, you would be a terrible criminal."

"I never said that it was a guy!"

"No, but that's the only reason you would keep it secret. I know you pretty well, we've been best friends for years. You are hiding a boy, and that's OK. Well actually, like I said, as your boss, it's really not okay and when we get back to Aristol I might think about reporting you, but as your closest confidant and feelings mother, I say that it's okay.

Do you know how long I've been waiting for this? I've tried to throw every eligible young man that we've met at you never liked any of them. This is actually amazing, I think I might make a shrine to whoever this mystery guy is."

I shook my head but didn't deny it. Let her think that I have some sort of mysterious romance. It'll make it easier to come up with excuses when I want to bail.

"I'm just letting you know so that you don't assign me to watch the princess through dinner."

"Pssshhh, no. We took her all day, let the other girls put up with her. I'm taking the rest of the night off. I think I'll start with a nap, you want to join me?"

"Uh no, I think I'll take a walk through the gardens."

"Suit yourself." was all she said before heading off towards her bed and I left the room and went outside.

Once alone, Tikki finally flitted out.

"Finally." I said, I had been waiting to talk to her all day, one thing that I hate about our new living situation is that I can't talk to her without making it seem like I'm crazy.

"Okay Tikki, you're going to have to do some explaining."

"About what?" she asked and I sat down on a bench in an abandoned part of the garden

"Everything last night, Master Fu said that there were other Miraculous holders, that Cat Noir, was he one of them?"

She paused for a moment as if deciding what to say to me.

"yes."

"And which Miraculous is he?"

"He's your other half, the destruction Miraculous."

"Oh." was all I could say. Master Fu had always told me that the destruction Miraculous had disappeared years ago, stolen by a rogue guardian.

"and to think, it's been in Bardengrad this entire time. I have to write a letter to Master Fu telling him everything."

"Marinette, you need to be careful tonight. The last person who we know had the destruction miraculous was a very confused man, bent on destroying the guardians and everything they stand for. It's been nearly a century but we don't know anything about this man who bears the cat miraculous. He could be luring you into a trap."

"Someone attacked the city yesterday and if that man is to be believed, this city has been under attack for a while now, but not by the destruction miraculous. From what I remember in my studies with Master Fu, the miraculous that has the power to create akumas is the butterfly miraculous. It seems as though we may have a larger problem than the Cat Miraculous."

"I know, but I need you to be careful. There's so much that we don't know."

I nodded and finished my walk in the garden. To be honest, I was excited for the meeting tonight. I know that I should be suspicious of Cat Noir but for some reason, I can't help but trust him. I'm hoping that he can help me with the mission that Master Fu sent me down here to complete, but first I need to make sure I can trust him.

I went to dinner early, hoping to escape the castle early so I could explore the city more. Everything was so unfamiliar and I wanted to be more comfortable with my surroundings.

While I was eating I hear a loud commotion from the hallways and I stepped out to investigate. The maids were huddled in a small corner talking furiously amongst themselves.

I moved in closer to see what was going on but I couldn't discern their hushed whisperings.

"What's going on?" I asked and one of the maids finally broke away.

"There's a monster attacking the castle miss."

I suddenly turned towards the door and ran outside where I saw a tall apelike monster attacking the guards that surrounded him with spears.

"What is that?" I asked Tikki.

"It's a person that has been infected with an akuma."

"How do you know it's not just a monster?"

"I can feel the magic. You need to transform."

"Tikki, Transform me!"

I was Ladybug a moment later and I climbed on top of the castle roof to get a better view point, trying to find a way to take this monster down.

"It's nice to see you, come here often?"

I rolled my eyes, Cat Noir had appeared suddenly at my back, a skill that he was apparently masterful in.

"No I don't, but to be honest it's kind of a special occasion."

"Yeah, it's not every day that a giant monster attacks the palace. Shall we?"

He asked with an exaggerated bow.

I smiled at him, "Let's do it."


	8. Chapter 7

Fighting this villain was different. No long winded explanations on who they were and why they were attacking, just incessant attacks,

"So where's the akuma?" I asked Cat Noir and he ducked an attack and turned to me,

"The what?" I sighed and used my yo-yo to pull the gorilla off of a castle guard.

"Oh yeah, the evil butterfly. I've got no idea. Why would I know that?"

"You knew where the last one was."

"Yeah, because I've fought that guy quite a few times. This is all new to me."

I sighed loudly, this is going to be difficult. Well, he was a big giant furry monster. If I was a big great furry monster, where would I have the one object that turns me into a super villain?

That line of thinking didn't help at all. I jumped moved away from the castle behind the gorilla man, trying to give myself a second to think my way out of the predicament but the gorilla monster turned around and came after me. I lept out of the way as it tried to crush me, but the monster stood up and charged me again.

Cat Noir swung in and used his staff to propel us to the top of the castle walls.

"It's going after you now. Why is it going after you?"

"I'm not sure." I said as the monster lumbered towards us. "But I have an idea. Can you use your destrucion powers on the gate mechanism?"

He nodded.

"Perfect. I'm going to lead him under the gate and when I give the signal, get rid of it."

Cat Noir nodded dutifully and I jumped down and grabbed the gorilla's attention.

"Hey big guy, over here!" the gorilla lumbered slowly towards me and I drew him in closer.

We were almost under the bridge when the gorilla suddenly lost interest in me and attacked the wall were Cat Noir was waiting, and in the action of doing that, he destroyed the same mechanism I wanted Cat Noir to destroy and I ducked out of the way of the falling gate.

"Lb! You got a different plan?!" Cat Noir asked as he furiously dodged the big animals attacks. I took that as my cue to throw my Yo-yo into the air.

"Lucky Charm!" Out materialized a rope.

I looked around, trying to find out what I could do with the rope.

"Cat Noir, the gate!"

He lept away from the monster and darted towards the gate, "Cataclysm!"

With one touch the gate disintegrated and I charged toward the open open gateway and threw one of the end of the rope to Cat Noir.

"Pull it tight!" I yelled and we both pulled against the rope as the gorilla monster charged through and tripped over the rope.

I let go of the rope and jumped on top of the monster finding a small necklace under his thick fur and I ripped it off.

An Akuma flew out of the necklace and I smiled and threw my yo-yo to catch the butterfly, letting the magic do it's job.

I released the pure butterfly and turned around to find the rope, only to find Cat Noir holding it towards me.

I took it and threw it up in the air, letting the repairing magic do it's job.

"Don't think I'll ever get tired of seeing this." He said as he watched the magic go around fixing all the damage that the Akuma victim had done.

"Yeah, it's amazing."

"No, you're amazing." He said flirtatiously and I rolled my eyes.

"We need to talk. Why was that monster coming after us, and who are you and why are you fighting these villains?"

"Well someone's got to do it-"

He was cut off by the sound of my earrings chirping. I turned to leave but he grabbed my arm.

"I thought you wanted to talk." He said

"I do. Later tonight , as we planned."

"Or we could go now, just you and me, no masks and no villains."

"Ha, nice try Cat Noir, but that's something I'd rather not see." I said while pulling my hand out of his.

"Afraid you wouldn't be able to resist me?" He asked.

"No, it's the other way around. I don't need another mangy cat following me home." I flirted back, stepping towards him and played lightly with the bell that was fastened onto his cape. He froze with his mouth open and blushed.

I stepped back and laughed."See you tonight kitty."

I pulled myself away from the scene, doing one full lap around the city to make sure I wasn't seen heading into the castle. I changed back in an alley way and walked the rest of the way back to the castle in silence as Tikki munched on a cookie that I bought her in a nearby bakery.


	9. Chapter 8

I finally went to the castle to check in with Alya before I went out again, it was busy. Everyone was recounting their experiences from the attack earlier. I finally found some of the guard in the dining area.

"rose, do you know where Alya is?"

"She's with the Princess." Rose said.

"Where have you been Marinette?" Alix asked. "You missed all the fun."

"I was taking a nap." I lied, and I left the room heading up to the guest quarters in the castle where Chloe had a room.

It took me a minute to find my way there but I knew I finally found the right place when I saw Alya standing in a hallway outside a room.

"Alya!" I said, crossing the hallway towards her and she waved at me.

"Marinette! Where have you been?"

"I told you, I took a walk in the garden."

"I sent Mylene to find you thirty minutes ago. I was worried, after the attack everyone checked in with me except you. I thought something had happened to you!"

"Sorry. I may have fallen asleep. Missed the whole attack."

She rolled her eyes and laughed. "Only you could sleep through an attack."

"Did anything interesting happen?" I asked.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, something interesting did happen. Did ou hear about how the monster was defeated?"

"Uh- no. I assumed that the guards took it down."

"No, it was way cooler than that. Two mysterious masked heroes arrived out of nowhere and attacked it. It was so cool. I was standing right there watching the whole thing, they showed up and it only took them about ten minutes before they had vanquished the monster."

"Wow." I said, not quite sure what to say. I was a little worried about her discovering my identity, if any one could do it, it was Alya.

"They were amazing fighters, and they had weir magic powers, it was amazing. I wish you could have seen it, you would have loved it. Weren't you into that magic crap when you were a kid?"

I shrugged, "I can't remember."

he shrugged in reply and then changed the subject.

"It was terrible. The monster attacked and I ran straight for Chloe's room. Luckily, she was safe and we were able to take her to the great hall and protect her from there. I heard the Prince went missing, they were tearing apart the castle looking for him."

That made me stop dead, "The Prince, is he okay? What happened."

She laughed and smiled at me. "Way to sound nonchalant Mari, he's fine. he said he was hiding in the garden. I'm surprised that you didn't see him."

I chuckled awkwardly, "Yeah, like I said, I was asleep. Dead to the world."

"Hmm." she said suspiciously, "What ever you say Marinette."

"So how is her majesty doing with all this excitement?"

"Well, you know her. She was upset that the monster chose to attack during her nap time and she was being difficult."

"Difficult? That doesn't sound like her."

Alya and I shared a laugh but we sobered up when we heard step coming up the hall. Alya stood in attention and I pulled my hood down and my scarf up and stood in attention on the other side of the door, trying to look as professional as I could.

Around the corner came a tall man accompanied by four guards . He had blonde hair, grey eyes and a stern face, no smile lines at all.

Alya bowed deeply as he stopped in front of us and I copied her movement.

"Your grace. The Princess isn't accepting visitors at the moment but I can deliver any message that needs to be given."

"No, I have no message for the Princess." he said, "I came to speak with you."

"Yes, you grace?"

"It has come to my attention during recent events that my son isn't safe enough. The legends of Aristol's famous royal guard is enough for me to ask of your services until suitable protection for my son can be found."

Alya paused for a moment with nothing but shock showing across her face.

"Surely your highness, you must have someone suitable in your employ."

"I am not asking for twenty four seven watch, I am just asking that someone accompany him whenever he is not in the castle."

"I can assign one of the guards to-"

"No, my son is the future ruler of both of our countries. You will see to his protection life is in your hands, if anything happens to him, it will be your head."

"Yes, sire. It will be done."

The man cast one last cold glance at both of us before leaving.

"What was that?" I asked.

She sighed loudly, "That was the sound of my life getting twice as much harder. How am I going to split all of us up between two royals?"

I put my hand on her shoulder. "come on, you got this. Who was promoted to be the youngest captain of the royal guard ever?"

"My predecessor died."

"Regardless! Who was promoted?"

"Me."

"Exactly. You'll figure it out.

She rolled her eyes, "Don't you have somewhere to be?" She asked and I looked at the window to see that the sun was falling quickly.

"Yes, I do. Thank you."

I took off and waved to Alya who in turn yelled, "Don't do anything that I wouldn't do!"

"I wouldn't even do anything that you would do!" I yelled in reply and went around the corner smiling to myself.

I stopped at our room an but on some nondescript clothing, folding up my guards uniform, and I left the castle.

I walked amongst the crowds for a bit noticing a huge difference from when I entered the city. The people seemed more lively and more colorful. I stopped at a bakery to buy myself and Tikki a small snack. The place smelled like bread and it made me smile, it reminded me of my parents bakery back home.

After the sun officially went down and the crowds died down until there was almost no one out in the streets, did I finally transform into Ladybug.

I sat on the ledge of the bridge and waited.

and waited

and waited

and waited.

I I sat on the ledge of the bridge playing with my yo-yo absent mindedly while I waited fora leather clad rogue.

I was about to give up and leave when I saw him jump down from a nearby building and come over here.

"My lady, you waited for me, I'm touched. I thought you'd be gone by now."

I shrugged, "You underestimate how much I want to have this conversation."

"He sat down on the ledge of the bridge and dangled his legs precariously over the edge.

"Well then let's talk."

I sat down next to him and started asking questions.


	10. Chapter 9

"Where did you get the ring?" I asked.

"I found it."

"Where?"

"Listen Bugaboo, I know how important this whole secret identity thing is to you, so trust me when I say that if I tell you you'd probably kill me."

I groaned out loud he is so infuriating, "Ok, then let's how how long have you had the ring?"

"Two years, and for nearly one whole year, Lupus has been coming into the city early every night attacking everyone."

I stood up and started pacing. I believed everything he said, and despite his amazing ability to get my last nerves, I trust him. If he was telling the truth, then he's been saving this city for a year now, fending off those wolves by himself, so he's probably an experienced fighter and he would prove useful.

"How much do you know about your Miraculous?"

"Just what I was told initially by my little friend, power of destruction, something about the curse of the black cat, and my indestructible good looks... wait, never mind. I look good with or without the miraculous."

"What was that about a curse."

He shrugged, "I don't know, not very many cursey things have happened to me, and honestly my little friend is exactly the most reliable resource. He'd probably would think it was hilarious to give me some made up story about some fake curse and then watch me worry about it."

I shook my head, "I haven't ever heard of any curse, and I probably would have heard about it if it existed." I said.

"Well that settles it, since apparently you're the expert, Spots."

I sighed, exasperated. "It's Ladybug, not Spots, not LB, not Lady, and I'm most certainly not your bugaboo"

He smiled, realizing that all his teasing was getting through to me. I shook my head, maybe what his Kwami meant by a curse was that I was cursed,and Cat Noir is the punnishment.

"Your miraculous and mine are linked. They have been since the beginning of time, creation and ever is sending the Akumas after us are looking for one thing."

"and what's that?"

"Complete power. He who wields the destruction miraculous and the luck miraculous together wields absolute power."

"Cool, so let's do it, we'll take turns. I'll take your earrings for a bit and I'll have a go then we'll swap and you can have a turn."

I glared at him.

"What?! I'm only kidding... mostly."

"I hope you are. Power like that... it comes at a price."

"so, how do we find the owner of the moth miraculous?" he asked.

I shrugged, "I'm going to send out a letter or two and see what I can find out."

He stretched lazily and laid down on the railing of the bridge, perching dangerously over the edge of the murky waters, "Any more questions?" He asked.

I had already asked him about most of the topics I need to, he seemed to know nothing about other miraculouses and he had known very little on the akumas.

"I don't think so, I'm not sure yet." I needed to talk to Tikki first before I let him know about everything.

"Purrfect, I've got all night so lets say that you and I go grab a drink, maybe you can tell me all about where you learned these things."

I rolled my eyes, "Something tells me that any night out with you would lead to a CATastrophe."I chuckled slightly at my own pun before sobering up ad realizing that I've caught whatever punny disease Cat Noir has. "Besides, I need to go talk to a friend."

I moved to leave and Cat Noir jumped up from his lazy position, "Wait!"

"What?"

"Tell me this, what were you looking for the other day when I followed you out here. I know You were trying to find something, don't deny it. You helped me defeat Lupus, I'll help you with your problem."

I thought for a minute, my natural first instinct to tell him that it was none of his business, but when I looked at his big green eyes I knew that I could trust him and I sighed, shaking my head.

"Okay fine, I was looking for a place where I could get some information."

"Some information about what?"

"It's hard to describe, and to be honest, I'm not sure how to even start looking for it. It was a temple built into the side of the mountain facing the ocean, but that was a long time ago and the ocean has probably consumed it by now. I was just looking to ask anyone in the area if they've ever come across anything like that."

He smiled, a mischievous look in his eyes, "Alright, I'll ask around, see what I can find."

"Thank you, I appreciate it."

"Then we're pawtners."

I grimaced and shook my head, "That one was a bit of a stretch, but I guess we are."

He extended his baton and turned to me for his parting words.

"See you later Partner, just do me a favor."

"What?"

He leaned in closer smiling widely, "Try not to fall in love with me."

I rolled my eyes, "Dully noted." I pushed him lightheartedly and he lept off leaving me there with nothing but my thoughts.

I should have talked to Tikki before telling him what I was looking for, but I know I made the right decision. Cat Noir would make a very good partner, he knows the area, the people, and he is in possession of one of the items that Master Fu sent me here to retrieve.

I change back in a nearby alley way and began my walk back to he castle, letting Tikki lecture me about Cat Noir.

"He could be dangerous Marinette, the last person we know who had the destruction miraculous was Hawkmoth.

"I doubt Hawkmoth has been fighting off his own akumas every night."

I'm just saying Marinette, I'm worried about you. This could go pretty badly for you."

I considered her argument for a moment but then shook my head, "No, I made the right decision. we can trust him, you'll see."


	11. Chapter 10

"So, how was your secret tryst?" Alya asked me as we headed towards the main hall.

I rolled my eyes and ignored the question.

"Okay, okay, be like that, but just know that eventually I'm going to get the juicy details out of you whether torture is involved or not."

I pushed her lightly and we both laughed. Outside the doors to the dining room Nino was leaning up against the doorway picking at his fingernails when he looked up and saw us, he smiled.

"Ladies! Nice to see you both this fine morning, what are you planning to do for the day?"

He was officially addressing us both but his eyes never left Alya and she paid him the same attention.

"That's so kind of you to ask Nino, we just so happen to be heading to our lady's room. How about you Nino, what are you doing on a fine day like this?"

I almost laughed at her thick flirtatious manner, content to be ignored in the back.

"As it just so happens, me and Adrien were planning a sort of lunch out on the town and it could be dangerous."

"Really? Maybe you need a few women to protect you."

He took a step closer and smiled, "That's exactly what I was thinking."

She linked arms with me and walked past him, "That's quite the conundrum, tell me when you've found some. Meanwhile, we really must be getting to the Princess."

"He quickly closed the gap between the two of them and grabbed her arm softly, "I seem to recall that you all arrived with enough women to protect the whole castle, surely the Princess could spare a couple for the afternoon."

Alya smiled, "You never know know when disaster could strike."

"Disaster is already striking, it's ruining my lunch plans."

"I'd hate to seed that happen, maybe we could spare a few hours."

They had gotten extremely close and my arm was still linked with Alya's, and not wanted to be a third wheel in such an intimate moment between the two I coughed loudly, interrupting the mood in the room.

"Aaallrighty, it's settled. We'll see you during lunch Nino, we ought to be going."

I pulled hard on Alya's room and she followed me with a quick good-bye to Nino.

I stared at her with a pointed look on my face.

"What?" she asked ignoring the scene that had just unfurled between my eyes.

"You blame me for withholding from you, what was that? You both seemed awfully... close."

she smiled wickedly. "Some of us take our job seriously Marinette. And if it just so happens that the Princess is always following around the Prince and Nino is never far behind, it would be rude not to have some polite conversation."

I snorted, "Polite conversation."

"Okay," she said, "Maybe it was _very_ polite conversation."

We checked in with the Princess who luckily had torn her favorite dress nearly in half and refused to leave her room without having it mended so there would only have to be guards posted at her door.

We stood guard until our relievers came around ten and we both went outside to saddle the horses and Nino was already waiting, holding our horses.

Alya took them from him graciously, "you're a saint."

He smiled, "I'll admit, my reasons were entirely selfish." He winked at her and she laughed and I rolled my eyes, I had seen my share of Alya's relentless flirting but Nino seemed to bring out the worst in her and it seems she did the same with him.

Adrien rode from across the courtyard and joined us. Nino nodded to him and Nino turned to Alya, "shall we?"

she nodded, "let's go."

Alya and I rode in front of Adrien and Nino, as was customary for guards. Nino led us through the city to a familiar bakery that I had found the day before. We dismounted and walked in.

I was hoping that they wouldn't recognize me from the day before but I realized how silly the thought was as soon as we entered and all eyes instantly were drawn to Adrien. The establishment owners instantly forgot their clients in line and personally welcomed the Prince, and the forgotten clientele didn't seem to care, they all looked starstruck.

Adrien blushed deeply trying to brush off all the flowery praise that came his way when suddenly in an instant he was led to the counter and offered multiple samples at once. We finally left nearly an hour later after he had tried nearly everything there and had given the proprioters his high praise for his baking.

We left carrying more pastries than we could possible eat and I secretively stuffed a few into a pocket in my cloak for Tikki to snack on.

We sat a table and a few chairs placed outside of the bakery where we put down our spread.

"So, ladies." Adrien said, "What do you think of our beautiful city?"

I opened my mouth to reply but as soon as I met his eyes my mouth went dry and I couldn't find the words.

"It's- it's-"

"Different." Alya said, interrupting my foolish stuttering. "Not wrong, not ugly, just different."

"How so?" he asked, with interest in his eyes. I loved that about him, he always seemed so interested to hear others speak even though he's a Prince and we're just guards. He didn't act like our opinion was lower than his.

"In Aristol, The streets are flooded with people, their are vendors that cover every inch of the streets, there's always some sort of performance happening at the city square, it's louder more colorful and more crowded."

"and it's like that everyday?" he asked

"Yes, except holy days, holidays and-"

she stopped short and I knew why. She was about to mention the topic that we had all successfully avoiding talking about so far.

"It's also hot here."

I managed to finally get out, it wasn't the most eloquent statement but I was proud of myself.

"Well I hope you are both getting acclimated to the weather."

Nino stood up suddenly, "Alright I think it's time to take this, to the beach

"The beach? You have beaches here?" Alya asked, surprised.

"No, not exactly but it's the closest thing we have to a beach."

We packed up and rode out the city gates and continued south for a little while until we came up a slight hill with a straight drop off on the other side.

"Wow, what a nice beach." Alya said sarcastically.

"That's nice, coming from a landlocked country."

Alya hit Nino in the arm and dismounted and I followed her lead. I walked up next to the edge of the cliff face. Master Fu said that it was a temple carved into rock overlooking an ocean so it has to be down there somewhere.

"Well I hate to say it but this is a pretty romantic spot." Alya said and Nino walked up next to her.

"Is it?" he asked, and he put his arm around her.

I sat down on the edge, letting my legs dangle over the cliff face. One thing I love about being Ladybug is that heights no longer bother me.

I grabbed a pebble and threw it down into the churning ocean thinking about how I would get away from the castle, get on a horse, ride all the way out here and then search the cliff face.

I felt a tingling in the back of my neck, and looked over my shoulder to find Adrien heading this way.

I thought for a second about jumping over the cliff but then decided that it would probably hurt without having my yo-yo to catch me.

"Do you mind if I join you?" he asked politely and I patted on the empty spot next to me.

"No you're fine. Well I don't mean that you're _fine_ fine I just meant that you can sit down, not that you aren't fine but yeah-"

I should take a vow of silence, I'm so embarrassing. but he just laughed and sat down sending my nerves crazy.

Stop it! I told myself, You've been around hundreds of Royals before. You can do this!

"Alya and Nino seem... close." he said breaking the silence.

I turned back to see them sitting in the grass together watching the ocean bellow.

"Yeah, they do." I nearly cheered for my newfound ability to say three words without stuttering.

"I'm happy for them, Nino deserves to be happy."

"Alya too."

Speaking of Alya and Nino, she stood up and walked towards us,

"Hey, we're going to go for a walk, are you ok here by yourself?"

"Yeah girl, no problem. Just don't do anything I wouldn't do."

She snorted and walked back to Nino.

I looked one last time over the cliff face, I wanted to go down there and investigate but I couldn't just leave Adrien here alone.

As if reading my mind, Adrien stood up.

"I'm also going to go for a short walk."

"Would you like company?" I asked, praying that he would say no.

"That is a tempting, but no. I will leave you to your thoughts."

He turned to leave and I smiled, it could not have gone better. Tikki flew out from under my cloak.

"Do you think that the temple is down there somewhere?"

"It has to be."

"How long do you think Alya and Nino will be?"

"Long enough to check it out."

"Perfect."

"Tikki, Transform me."


	12. Chapter 11

I propelled myself down the cliff face, looking for any sort of cave or entrance. I found a ledge on the cliff face and set myself down.

Master Fu told me that the entrance was probably submerged by the sea long ago. I looked down into the ocean and shuddered. as a member of the royal guard we are to be expected to handle ourselves in every environment so I can swim but the thought of jumping into the dark waters below was terrifying.

I turned around, studying the cliff face, hoping and praying that I would find the entrance somewhere dry.

"Hey!" I looked around to see where the voice was coming from, but I didn't see anyone.

"Hey, LB. Down here!"

I looked down into the sea and was barely able to make out Cat Noir floating above the surface.

"Come on. I think I've found something."

I shook my head, I really didn't want to jump down there, but I moved back and threw myself down to the ocean, diving down into the freezing waters.

The water was black, I couldn't see three feet in front of me I swam up to the surface and met Cat Noir.

"I see that we both happened to have the same idea."

"yep." I said humorlessly, trying not to imagine what kind of creatures lived in the waters below me. "Let's get this over with, you said you found something?"

"What's wrong bugaboo, you look like a drowned cat."

I threw him a glare, trying to keep myself from shivering.

"Okay okay. Look," he held up his hand and showed me his ring, it was glowing lightly."The further I swim down, the brighter it glows. I think that it's going to lead us to whatever you're looking for."

I nodded, "Okay, we need to check it out." I looked down at the water again, "Later, we need to check it out later."

"I don't think you'l like it anymore at night."

I sighed, he was right. I would be even less inclined to swim down to the depths of the ocean at night but I couldn't be gone for long I don't know when Alya is coming back but I do know that if she comes back and I'm gone she'll get upset.

"We'll have to do it tonight. Meet me on top of the cliff's?"

He nodded, "It's a date." He said with a wide grin.

I rolled my eyes and nodded. I swam around the cliff face until I found a ledge for my yo-yo to grip and I pulled myself out of the water.

I detransformed and went back to the horses, taking my quill and some paper out of my pack. I wrote a short letter to Master Fu telling him that we've found the temple. I had written him a letter the night before telling him about Cat Noir.

he said that the temple would hold the key to finding the destruction miraculous but I am hoping that it will hold more information on the Moth Miraculous

If I don't hear back from him soon then I'm just going to have to make my own decisions.

I need to find the holder of the Hawk miraculous an I need to find out what he knows. That's the whole reason I'm here, to find out what happened the day that our late king was killed.

I finished writing and gave the letter to Tikki. Kwami's were faster than carrying pigeons, it took her only hours to get to Aristol.

Adrien finally appeared in view over from where he disappeared and he walked up to me.

"They're still gone?" he asked, sounding incredulous. I nodded

"Did you enjoy your walk?" I asked him and he flashed me a smile that made my knees weak.

"I did." He walked passed me and moved to his own horse and I discovered how great he smelled.

He tightened his cinches and climbed onto his horse.

"Let's go find them, shall we?"

I nodded and climbed onto my own horse. I grabbed the reigns of the other two horses and nodded to Adrien, "let's go."

We found them a short trip later and we all started to head back.

Alya rode up next to me. "So, how did it go with prince charming?"

"I should be asking you that."

"Tell me this, do you think he'll be happy with his new bride to be?"

I shuddered and wrinkled my nose, "Oh, don't remind me. Please, I like him a lot, and just imagining him with Chloe makes me sick."

"So you do actually like him. What happened to the hot mysterious stranger?"

"I told you, it's not what you think."

"So you actually like the gorgeous Prince?"

"He's nice, he's compassionate. He'll make a great King."

she nodded, "Ok, well you two spent a lot of time alone, did you tell him you liked him?"

I laughed out loud,"You've got to be kidding me. Never, ever in a million years."

"Why not?"

"You've got o be kidding me, I could never- I wouldn't- He's a Prince!"

Alya nodded her head, "Yeah, it does make it a little bit harder, but to be honest, the poor sucker is going to be married to Chloe for the rest of his life. You're in a different league than her."

"She's a princess, she's been raised her entire life in society and class. I haven't."

"Some things you can't train, and that woman has the worst personality of anyone I've ever met. Listen, you're a catch Marinette. I don't think you're out of his league. You need to have more confidence in yourself and I know he's engaged but we all know that amongst royals, infidelity, isn't exactly uncommon."

I just shook my head, "I don' think I could get up the nerve to ever say anything to him. maybe in a few years we could be friends."

"We'll see, you underestimate your best friend."

When we finally made it to the castle, We parted ways and headed towards Chloe's chambers which we found the search for our missing mistress, we patrolled the hallways until we found the kitchen.

Inside a few of the guards were hanging out, trying some food. One thing about this new country was that their food was less flavorful, it took some getting used to.

"Get out Daniel!" A voice screamed a room away. My hand moved to my sabre and I stepped forward but Alex stopped me.

"No, there's nothing wrong. It's the head cook, she's been yelling at that poor boy for the better part of an hour. We made the mistake of bursting in on her earlier. It did not go well."

"You've ruined a perfect dish?! You're not fit to pick up dog shit in this castle, you're a waste of human space!"

"Someone should do something."

Alix shrugged eating a piece of bred, what can we do?"

Suddenly the door to the other room and out burst a boy who I was assuming was Daniel. He pushed past us and left the kitchen sobbing.

"Someone should go after him." I said aloud and when no one else left, I decided to go after him myself. Someone should make sure he's okay.

I left through the same door and took a left, following the sound of crying.

In the corner of my eye I saw a butterfly, I stopped to look at it, wondering about how a butterfly got in the castle but when I realized what was happening it was too late.

The butterfly landed on his apron and the boy fell to his knees.

I watched in horror, not sure what to do as the magic slowly consumed him and he turned into a villain.

"Yes, Hawkmoth." He said, "I will get the Miraculous."

I took a step back, the moth miraculous holder was communicating with him through the magic.

Tikki was still gone, delivering the message, maybe I could do this without her if I talked to the akuma victim.

"Daniel!" I cried out and he turned to me, realizing I was there for the first time.

"Who are you?" Daniel asked, eyeing the weapons at my hip.

I instantly unbuckled the sabre sheath and drapped the weapon on the ground.

"I just wanted to see if you were ok. I heard the way the chef was talking to you."

"She has no right to do that. I'm good at what I do, I just made one mistake."

"No, I understand. She was wrong. People make mistakes all the time, it's not right for her to get so mad after one simple mistake."

It's everyday. Everyday she treats me like garbage. She doesn't appreciate anything I do." He clenched his fists and straightened his back, an angry glint in his eye. "I'm going to make her pay for every word she has said to me."

I stepped towards him and put my hand on his shoulder, "No, that's not the way to do this. I used to work at my parents bakery. One day my father put me in charge of all the bread for that day and I accidentally used salt instead of sugar in the daily batch. I ruined nearly a hundred loaves of bread and we couldn't complete any orders that day. When my father found out, he was furious."

Daniels eyes cleared of magic and he turned to me, "What did he do?"

"He kicked me out of the kitchen and refused to look at me for a week, but eventually he realized that it was just a mistake and after I made him apology muffins, he finally trusted me to bake again. I know you're hurt right now but there is no good that can come from attacking her. It will only make your relationship worse."

"Maybe you're right." He said, the magic leaving his face and his clothes. "I am really good at decorating cakes, maybe I could make an apology cake."

"Exacty!" I said, nervously as the magic seeped out of him.

Suddenly his face was surrounded by a butterfly mask and he fell to his knees again, and when he finally stood up, the magic had consumed him again.

"No, Daniel. Don't!"

"I am not Daniel, I am The Kitchen Fiend!"

He drew knives from his sleeves and moved towards the kitchen. I grabbed his arm, attempting to pull him back but he turned on me and sliced my arm with one of his knives,

"Stay out of my way!"

"Alya!" I called, and she popped her head out of the kitchen, instantly seeing Daniel and drawing her sabre. The Alix and Mylene stepped out into the hall and alya called back to them, "Alix, I could use some help. Mylene, go secure the princess and get some back up, something tells me that we're going to need it."

Mylene pushed past the kitchen fiend who was busy with Alya and Alix. My arm was bleeding badly and I ran into the kitchen.

"Chef!"

The cranky woman popped her head out of the second room, "What do you want?!"

"I think it's best if you come with me!" I said while quickly tying a dish rag around my wound.

"I don't think so, Dinner is in an hour and I will not leave this kitchen."

I walked over to her and grabbed her arm, "That wasn't a request, I'm trying to save your life!"

I pulled her out of the kitchen and as soon as Daniel saw her he grew enraged, fighting with more ferociousness and strength.

"What is that?" She asked, horrified. and I pulled her out of the hallway and out to the courtyard.

"You there, come here!" I yelled to one of the stable hands who rushed over.

"Yes ma'am, how can I help you?"

"What's your name?"

"Tyler, ma'am.

"Okay, Tyler, this is very important, I need you to saddle a horse for our chef here and get her out of the castle. Then you need to alert the guards that there is an attacker in the castle."

Tyler nodded dutifully and sprinted off to work.

"You can't force me to leave town."

"Listen, I'm trying to protect you. You asked what that thing was in the hallway, it was your assistant Daniel, and right now the only thing stopping him from killing you is my best friends. So I suggest you do as I say."

The woman opened her mouth as if to say something but instead decided to nod her head obediently which was good for her because I was an inch away from smacking her.

I jogged back to the Castle and came to the front door where a guard was standing watch.

"You're supposed to use the servants entrance." The guard said and I groaned, frustrated.

"Listen, there's a giant monster inside attacking everyone in this castle. Are you sure that right now is a good time to have this conversation?"

The man folded his arms, unmoving until there was a scream that came inside. That maybe him look back over his shoulder. I took that moment, whilehe was distracted, to push past him into the castle.

I ran towards the sound wishing that I hadn't thrown my sword on the ground earlier. The only weapon I had on my was a small throwing knife in my boot and if worse comes to worse, that isn't the ideal weapon for me.

I turned the corner in the hallway when I a body flew by me and hit the wall next to me. It took me only a second to realize that, that body was Cat Noir and that I was in more trouble than I had thought. I bent downnext to Cat Noir,

"Are you all right?" I asked him and he nodded and stood up uneasily. I looked up the hallway and saw The Kitchen Fiend moving up the hallway towards us, a grin on his face, holding his knife against the wall as he walked, created an awful sound as it dug into the rocks.

"There you are, my pretty. I saw you run off with the chef. You wouldn't be so kind as to tell me where she is would you?"

I shook my head defiantly.

"Good, that means we can to this the fun way."

He lunged towards me and I dodged his attack but as he came around with his second knife I moved again. He swung faster with strength and I soon began to feel out of sync, out of rhythm until he brought his knife down overhead and I brought up my hands, hoping that my arms would catch the blow and I would take only minor injuries. But when the blow never hit I looked up and realized that Cat Noir had come to my rescue and was now engaging with the villain.

It only took a moment before I caught my breath and drew the small knife out of my boot. I looked around quickly to find something to catch the akuma in.

I grabbed a bottle of perfume from the room next door and dumped out its pungent contents onto the carpet. I moved into the hallway, trying to find my way around to the back of the Kitchen Fiend so that I could rip off his Apron safely but he saw what I was doing and threw a knife at me.

I didn't have time to move or think but Cat Noir moved in front of the knife just in time to stop it before it hit me. He crumpled to the floor the knife sticking out of his side. I moved quickly against the wall as The Kitchen fiend moved towards Cat Noir.

He lifted him up by the arm and I saw him go for his ring, but I ripped off his apron just in time and he transformed back into Daniel. The akuma flew out of the broken apron and I captured the akuma in the perfume bottle as subtly as i could without Cat Noir or Daniel noticing. I stuck the bottle in my cape and went over to Cat Noir.

"Are you ok?" I asked him.

"Is who ok, me?Yeah, I'm fine. You know what they say, a cat's got nine lives." He tried to stand up but then instantly fell back to the ground again.

"Yeah ok, sure. Give me one second. I'll be right back."

I left Cat Noir's side and moved back over to Daniel who was rubbing his head, confused and in pain, covered with cuts.

"Daniel, are you alright?"

"Who- where am I?"

"Listen, you were just barely controlled by evil magic, but it's gone now. Go to the doctor's chambers and let him look at your wounds. Tell him you were injured in the fight or something."

Daniel stood up, wobbling a little bit and I stood up with him.

"And Daniel," I said before he left down the hall, "The only reason the Chef is so hard on you is because she wants you to be the best you can be. She might yell at you, but I'm betting that deep down she really does care about you."

He stopped and looked at the floor sadly, "Thank you- whoever you are."

"Marinette. You can call me Marinette."

He stumbled down the hallway after that I turned back to Cat Noir.

I pulled him up and draped his arm over my shoulder, letting him put most of his weight on me.

"We need to get you to the doctor's." I said, mostly to myself, but I knew that I couldn't do that. There would be too many questions.

"No." he said, "I'm wanted by the king, they'll throw me in jail to rot"

"Of course you are." I muttered under my breath. That seems about right.

"Well then, we need a quiet place to go so I can inspect your wounds." I said

"The throne room."

"What?"

"The throne room, there's a- there's a secret passage way behing the far wall. No one know's about it."

I wondered how he knew about it, but I didn't say anything, I headed towards the throne room which would hopefully be empty.

I heard footsteps coming up the hallway towards us and I quickly slipped off my cloak, stuffing the akuma in one of my secret dress pockets and I wrapped my cloak around Cat Noir.

The foot steps were guards who marched right past us ignoring us.

I finally dragged the both of us into the empty throne room and turned towards the far wall looking for any sort of secret entrance.

Cat Noir attempted to stand up straight and grabbed the sconce on the wall, twisting it in a full circle. The floor rumbled under neath us and the floor beneath us became a staircase that led down beneath the wall in front of us.

here seemed to be evil magic coming from the dark tunnels below and I got a strong feeling not to enter the darkness but with one more look at my partner I sighed and took a blind step down into the darkness.

 **Author's Note,**

 **Sorry for the long chapter, thank's for reading, I really do appreciate it. But not more than I appreciate everyone who comments. Any concerns or criticisms or thoughts at all, I would love to hear, after all in order to improve,it would help to have a second or third opinion.**

 **Until next time-**


	13. Chapter 12

I followed the stairs until I couldn't see anymore in the dark.

I grew slower in my steps unsure when I was going to reach the bottom.

"There's a torch along the wall right next to you." Cat Noir said with pain in his voice.

I felt along the side of the wall for a torch, and true to his words I found one. I stopped for a second to dig out a pocket flint from one of the many pouches on in my cloak and I lit the torch, revealing a rustic door at the very bottom of the stairs.

I tried to open the door but it was locked, "What do we do now?" I asked him.

He reached inside the cloak and grabbed a key that was on a cord around his neck.

"Here." He said, handing the key to me. I opened the door and was first greeted by the sight of things everywhere. Shelves lined the walls to the small room and random things were cluttered everywhere.

I found a couch in the corner of the room and I took him over to it.

"This is quite the collection." I said, setting him down on the couch.

He looked around and nodded, "Just a few things that I've picked up."

M eye was caught suddenly by a large ornate crown that was currently being used as a bowl.

"Let me guess, that's why the king is after you."

His face broke out into a huge Cheshire cat grin. "That's one of the reasons."

The mood was suddenly killed when he grimaced in pain.

"Okay, I said, enough small talk. We need to deal with this."

"You might have to do this alone, I think... i think I'm going to pass out."

I suddenly panicked, I didn't know much about first aid besides the general course we took during training but I think that passing out is a bad sign. I don't know enough about this, I need help. I need Alya.

I crept along the castle walls, being mostly ignored as I headed to wards the Princess's rooms. If there was one place Alya would be, it's in there.

"Marinette!" a squeaky voice called out, I turned around and found Tikki heading towards me. I sighed in I had Tikki's help, I wouldn't have to bring Alya into this.

"Tikki! You're back."

"What happened over here Marinette?"

"We were attacked by an akuma." She flitted around, inspecting me to see if I was injured.

"What happened?"

"I caught the akuma." I said, pulling the bottle out from my pocket. "but that isn't the real problem, it's Cat Noir. He's been injured, badly. I was just going to go grab Alya to help me out."

She looked at me sadly, and brought out a letter. "Marinette, I think you need to read this."

"Right now? He's hurt pretty badly. I think that we need to hurry."

"It's important."

Frustrated, I tore open the letter and scanned it's contents, every word filling me with anger. When I had finished reading I looked up at Tikki accusingly.

"Did he tell you what was in here?" i asked her. and she guiltily nodded. I crumpled up the paper and shoved it in my pocket with the Akuma and I went into the kitchen grabbing all of the clean rags I could and a bottle of alcohol.

Tikki followed me, silent as we entered the secret passage way and into the room where CAt Noir was still unconscious on the couch.

I knelt down next to him, pulling my cloak back and I prepped a few bandages.

"We need to pull the knife out." I said, breaking the silence between us.

"Are you sure-"

"Yes Tikki, we're going to pull the knife out, we are going to stitch him up, wrap is wound, and he is not going to die."

Using the suture kit from one of the utility pockets in my cape and Tikki's extra set of hands, I managed to take out the knife an dress his wound.

I was cleaning the blood off my hands with a spare rag when his miraculous beeped.

My hand stalled, I didn't want to leave him here in this condition.

"Marinette, we have to go." Tikki said, urging me away.

"I can't, he's unconscious, I don't know if the wound is infected, I can't.

She pulled on my hand, "Marinette, right now the magic from the miraculous is focused on keeping the transformation solid. once he detransforms the magic will go to healing his body, and he should recover."

I stood up, but stayed there, not wanting to leave.

"I don't think that identities are a big deal anymore Tikki, I trust him, and his life must surely mean more than a bunch of arbitrary rules."

His miraculous beeped again, reminding us of the oncoming transformation, "Marinette, when you were trusted with your Miraculous, you swore you would never reveal to anyone that you are Ladybug. These aren't just arbitrary rules, they all have along history that's come from the experiences of hundreds of different miraculous holders. You've already disobeyed Master Fu's orders, don't make this worse."

I turned to her. "Fine, you're right, I'm sorry." I left the room with one last look behind me, praying that my partner would be alright.

When we left the throne room Tikki turned to me, "So what are you going to do?" she asked.

I shook my head, "I don't know, but that letter, you have to know it's wrong. I couldn't- I can't even imagine-" I broke off an Tikki nodded.

"I agree with you. I just hope that we're right, that we aren't making a huge mistake."

 **Here's a nice short chapter for you all :D Only 26 more days until season 2 is released on Netflix in America. YAY!**


	14. Chapter 13

One last perimeter check around the castle and then I was out to moonlight as my secret identity. Alya had left a while ago, Nino had asked her and some of the guard out to experience the night life that Bardengrad has to offer.

Adrien was probably with them, I sighed aloud, trying to internally suffocate the crush I was harboring.

"Well hello there." A voice called behind me and quickly I whipped around, two knives drawn. I nearly dropped them when I saw that the owner of the voice was Cat Noir. I sheathed them instantly and wrapped him in a hug.

Instantly feeling the awkwardness of it, I backed up an nervously moved my hands back and forth. "I'm sorry! I just- I thought you had died and that it was my fault, I'm just, glad to see you."

He grinned, "No Princess, please, don't apologize to me. I'm pretty sure, I owe you one, I think you saved my life."

"I thought cats had nine lives."

"I'd rather not find out if that one's true."

"I wanted to thank you Cat Noir." he looked at me surprised, "Shouldn't I be thanking you?

"No, for the fight, that monster probably wouldn't have been stopped if it wasn't for your help and I just wanted to make sure that you know that I appreciate your help."

He struck a heroic pose and wiggled his eye brows, "I am always there to save damsels in distress."

"Well I'm glad you're safe."

He nodded and rubbed the back of his neck absentmindedly.

"I also wanted to ask you a favor."

"Oh?" I asked, curious what favor he could possibly want from Marinette.

"Stay out of the catacombs beneath the castle. The other day, when I took you down there, it was an emergency you shouldn't hang around down there."

"Why?"

he shook his head, "Old magic, dark magic. I can feel it down there. Plus, it's haunted."

"You don't believe in that stuff do you?" I asked him and his face grew serious, "I know that a lot of bad things have happened down there." He moved forward, putting his hands on my arms, "Please Princess, will you just promise me that you won't go down there, especially not alone."

I nodded, "Okay, I won't, I promise." I don't know why I was promising him this, but something in his eyes hypnotized me into agreeing.

He smiled instantly, reverting back into his normal self, "Purrrfect, and now I must bid you adieu, I have a prior engagement with another Lady."

"Oh?" I asked, "the masked criminal, off to stir up some trouble."

He gave me a crooked grin, "you know it." with that he left just as quickly as he came, heading out of the castle. I smiled, I bet I know a certainly Lady who has an appointment with.

"Tikki." I said, but before I could call for the transformation she flew out in front of my face.

"Marinette! We're going to have to talk about this. Master Fu has sent his orders, what are we going to do about it?"

I took a step back, I hadn't forgotten. "I don't know, we don't know enough. Master Fu might be right and I will be careful, but one thing that Cat Noir has earned is a reasonable doubt."

"Alright Marinette, just be careful. I think you're too trusting."

I nodded, I don't think that I'm too trusting but I did trust Master Fu, but he might be wrong, I hoped he was.

"Transform me." with that I went towards the cliffs.

I saw Cat Noir already waiting for meat the edge of the cliff and I broke into a grin, ready to stealthily sneak up on him like he always does to me.

I crept closer but Cat Noir turned around, "You're a sight for sore eyes." he said, grinning.

I straightened up, disappointed. "How did you know I was there?"

"I've got a sixth sense where you're concerned My Lady." I rolled my eyes and approached the edge of the cliffs looking down into the water, Cat Noir was right, the darkness did nothing to improve the situation.

He stepped up next to me, looking out over the ocean.

"This is a pretty romantic spot." He mentioned casually, looking up at the stars I nodded absentmindedly, not really paying attention, and I straightened up and turned to him,

"Ok, we'll jump down into the water and try to follow the ring as best we can, Are you ready?"

He sighed and nodded, and with that we both plunged down into the black water.

Once in the water, Cat Noir disappeared and I could no longer see him in the dark water.

I resurfaced but still didn't see him around. I dived back down, looking for any sign of a glowing ring, panicking slightly, I swam as hard as I could trying to find him anywhere, not only was I lost, but I was also being pushed towards the cliff face by the ocean's current.

Hacking up salty water and my arms feeling strained, dived down again, looking for any sort of faint glow. Under the water, my arms began to tingle and my legs grew warm and my whole body began to heat up. I tried to desperately swim to the surrface but I foundmyself sinking. My throat burned as I tried to hold my breath until I couldn't anylonger and I desperately inhaled but instead of drowning, Nothing happened. I breathed normally and the uncomfortable feeling went away. My vision cleared and I could see through the murky water and I finally noticed that I had fins.

Trying out this new found ability I swam around a bit, breathing easily underwater until I found Cat Noir, who had seemingly made the same transformation I had into part fish.

He pointed further down and waved for me to follow him which I did and we swam further down until we found an open cave.

We swam into it and the cave sloped upwards. We cleared the surface of the water and as soon as we did, the transformation reversed itself.

Cat Noir turned to me, "Shall we?" he asked nodding at the huge ornate door that stood in front of us, unaffected by the water that surrounded it.

"Let's go.


	15. Chapter 14

The door opened into a long hallway, it's walls lined with warped peices of artwork that were now destroyed beyond recognition.

The hall was lightly lit by our brightly glowing miraculous, but it was still hard to see so Cat Noir took the lead.

I moved over to the wall and traced my hand lightly over a battle scene that was carved into a stone that was hung on the wall.

The stone depicted two sides. I moved closer trying to make out the small figures discovering that one was Ladybug, leading the charge against... I ran my finger over the figure on the opposing side, with his Cat Ears it was unmistakeable, it seems that the destruction and creation miraculous have not always got along so well.

Cat Noir yelled suddenly and I whipped around, ready to come to his defense, when I saw that he was attacking some sort of statue.

"Cat Noir, stop!" I yelled over the sound of his attacks echoing down the hall but he continued attacking it with his baton.

I moved over and pulled him away by his tail.

"Stop, it's just a statue."

He stood up straight and squinted at it, "Oh yeah, I knew that I was just... practicing."

"Sure you were, let's keep going, I have a good feeling about this place."

"Really?" he asked, looking around, "It doesn't give you the creeps?"

I didn't know what he was talking about, I could feel the ancient magic all around me, it was empowering.

We continued down the hall passing six more of the large stone statues before we came to another large ornate door except this one had no door handle.

"So... how does it open?" he asked. I shook my head, I had no idea. Master Fu never mentioned what I should do when I actually got into the temple.

I searched around the door for anything that looked like it would open the door but I found nothing.

"Maybe one of these guys can help us out." he said pointing at the nearest statue.

"I don't think so." I said trying to think of an answer, I didn't come all the way here to turn back now.

"This is a magic door." I said, trying to work out what I was planning in my head.

"Yeah... so what do we do? Are there magic words?" He turned to the door dramatically, "Abracadabra." but the door did nothing.

"No, what I'm saying is that the temple was built for the sole purpose of protecting the miraculous holders. I think that we should try using out powers on the door, maybe that would open it."

He shrugged, "Cataclysm." he said before pressing his hand to the door and nothing happened. The door didn't even disintegrate.

Cat Noir shrugged, "well that was a bust, maybe the door just can't be-"

He cut off suddenly when a loud sound came from behind us.

We whipped around and saw that the seven statues were now standing with spears pointed our way, their eyes now glowing with life.

"Oh this just isn't fair."

He drew his baton up and I strung my yo-yo between my hands ready for a fight and a fight they gave.

We were greatly outmatched, the stone beings could not be injured no matter what we attacked them with cat Noir's ring chirped suddenly adding another layer of tension to the situation and I threw my yo-yo in the air calling of my powers. I prayed it would be something useful, something that would get us out of this tight situation, but when nothing materialized I panicked, we were going to die.

It took me a few more moments to realize that the stone statues were no longer attacking us but had frozen in place.

"The door's open!" Cat Noir called out. I moved passed the stone statues cautiously and followed Cat Noir through the door.

It opened up into a massive room littered with books and objects.

My heart sank a little bit, how was I ever going to be able to find anything in here, the amount of stuff in here would take years to go through.

Cat Noir whistled appreciatively, "Wow, I have to admit, I had doubts about your magic temple, but I think this was worth all the trouble."

I stopped suddenly and turned to him, "Cat Noir, your time is almost up, you have to leave."

He looked down at his ring and shook his head, "No, I would've changed back by now, I think the rules are different in here."

I touched my own miraculous, he did have a point. My earring would normally be chirping by now.

"Alright, let's split up, try to find anything that has anything to do with the moth miraculous."

"Copy that, spots." he said and with a mock salute he took off towards the books and I moved in the opposite direction.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOooOoOooOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

My own search was so far proving a failure, some books were in ,a different language, seemed to be spouting nothing but giberish and a few of them were completely blank. I didn't know what time it was but my eyes grew heavier and somewhere in between my fifth or sixth bookcase I fell asleep on the ground surrounded by piles of books.

I was nudged awake suddenly by Cat Noir and I sat up.

"Have you discovered anything?" I asked him.

"Only that you're absolutely adorable in your sleep." I blushed slightly and rolled my eyes.

"Oh and I also found a secret room that holds all the secrets of the miraculous, Does that sound like something that would prove useful?"

I jumped to my feet suddenly, "Where is it?"

He led me to a place where a book shelf swung back and revealed a hidden room.

"How did you find this?"

He scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "I might have been trying to steal that." he said, pointing at a cat shaped book end that was gold, with little green gems.

I narrowed my eyes at him and he shrugged, "It's not like anyone would miss it."

I shook my head and moved into the room. In the middle on a pedestal a there was a large wooden jewelry box. I opened it but it was empty. I moved on to the book s that lay on the shelves and I picked one up and combed through it.

The books were mainly histories on past miraculous holders, their journals and other hand written accounts.

"Here LB, read this." I put down the book I was holding and moved over to where he was, taking the book from his hands and looking at the passage he pointed to.

It was a book that, much like the others, was written in code, but this book had large ornate illustrations. I flipped through it finding pictures of the different miraculous.

"That's the Moth miraculous." I said pointing to the brooch. I had only ever seen hand drawing of it that Master Fu had created.

Cat Noir took an uneasy step back and he face was pale white.

"What's wrong?" I asked him, but he shook his head..

"I have to go." he said suddenly and left in a hurry.

"Wait!" I yelled after him but it was too late, he was gone.

I looked back at the illustration of the moth miraculous and turned to the next page where there was an illustration of an all powerful being, one that had the power of the combined miraculous.

Cat Noir recognized the moth miraculous. I had no doubts, the way he reacted as soon as he saw it, and if if he recognized it, then no doubt he knows the identity of the one who weilds it my heart sunk to my knees when I realized that instead of telling me he ran, probably to whoever this person is.

I thought back to the letter Master Fu sent.

"Marinette,

It is urgent that you deal with this "Cat Noir" immediately. The moth miraculous holder, or as I know him, Hawkmoth, stole the Cat miraculous from me years ago. Cat Noir is no doubt in league with him, they are scheming to steal your miraculous. You must act now, take his miraculous by force, kill him if necessary. You cannot trust him."

I slammed the book shut and left the same way we came. The doors sealed themselves as I left and I moved past the second set of doors, plunging myself into the waters again. I crawled over the cliff and Cat Noir was still nowhere to be seen.

"It's not true." I told myself, but my growing feelings of trust were replaced by feelings of doubt. I liked Cat Noir, he seemed genuine, but I felt like a fool, readily trusting some suave criminal over the man who taught me everything.


	16. Chapter 15

It was nearly sunrise when I returned to the castle, but rather than going to the barracks to try and scrounge up what little sleep I could get, I stole a few cookies from the kitchen for Tikki and headed towards the castle library.

"What am I going to do Tikki?" I asked, the one ally I had made during my time here was probably just trying to get me to give up my miraculous the whole time.

"I think you should think about this Marinette, so you really think that he is in league with Hawkmoth? He hasn't done anything to deserve your sudden change in opinion. He's had your back every step of the way."

"I want to agree with you, I really do, why else would he have reacted like that?"

"I don't know. but you should talk to him before deciding that he's evil."

"I thought you didn't like him." I said accusingly.

"I didn't and I still am not very fond of him but I can't help but recognize how much he has done to help us. He's been with us every step of the way."

"I know, but the more I think about it, the more I think that Master Fu is right, there is a great possibility that he is in league with hawkmoth."

I opened the library and slipped into the door as quietly as I could and was approached by a librarian.

"What can I help you with?" asked the librarian.

"I was looking for the history of Bardengrad."

She smiled warmly and led me towards a collection of books and I instantly delved into the books.

"What are you looking for Marinette?" Tikki asked.

"Remember the story Master Fu always tells about the destruction of the guardians?"

"Yes."

"The rogue guardian, the one who tried to steal all the miraculous, he had stolen the Moth miraculous, and somehow it ended up here. I'm going to try and find any hints about where it could have popped up."

"Good idea."

I read diligently about the history of Bardengrad while Tikki slept in my cloak. I was looking for any sort of weird unexplained attacks that sounded like it could come from the moth miraculous.

"Hi." a voice came from right behind me, sending my tired addled brain on attack mode and sending my heart through my chest.

I grabbed a knife from my boot and whirled around quickly only to realize that I was face to face with the Prince.

In shock I dropped my knife and bowed suddenly, "Oh, I didn't scared you. No, you scared me. You're not scary, your the Prince. The Prince is here I can't-"

He put his hand on my arm, effectively shutting me up. "Marinette, take a breath, calm down."

I blushed, "Sorry, I've just had a long night and I'm not exactly feeling myself."

"Oh? Me too. So what brings you here? A little bit of light reading?" I looked at the piles of books strewn all over the floor and blushed again, "Yes-no, well, I don't know. I guess I'm looking for something, but I'm not to sure what it is."

"Have you found it?" he asked and I looked at the piles helplessly.

"No, I haven't."

"Well, is there anything I can do?" He asked with a crooked smile, "I'm a sucker for damsels in distress."

I chuckled lightly, there was something about his mannerisms that seemed so familiar. but so foreign coming from him.

"No, to be honest, I think I'm just hoping I'll come across something that isn't there."

He nodded "Well I wish you luck, he bowed slightly and walked away. I sat back down to my books, looking at them with hate, not finding what I wanted.

I opened another and started to scan the lines when The prince turned back around the corner and came straight to me.

"Marinette, I need your help." I stood back up

"What do you need?" I asked, the panic in his voice made my hand creep around my saber.

"Hide me." he said running behind me and ducking down, using my cloak to cover himself.

"What are you doing?!" I asked turning around but I faced back forward when I saw the King approach me.

I bowed stiffly, terrified of what he would do if he knew his son was crouching down behind me hiding in my cloak.

"My king, how may I be of service today."

He looked at me with disdain , "Have you seen my son anywhere?"

"You're son- you mean the Prince? Nope haven't seen him at all, well obviously I have seen him before just not anywhere today."

I wondering silently if the King could order my tongue cut off for mumbling incoherently. I would almost welcome it.

He looked at the books at my feet.

"Reading up on our country's history are you?"

"Yes, I think that your country has such a unique and interesting history and I wanted to learn more about it."

"If you see my son, I order you to escort him to me personally."

I bowed again, like a moron, "Yes your highness."

He gave me one last disapproving look before leaving.

I waited a few minutes before he left completely and I whirled around.

The Prince stood up suddenly and dusted off his knees.

"Hmm... I think he likes you."

Well probably not after he finds out I lied to his face.

"What was that?"

He rubbed the back of his head uncomfortably, "I-I... my father, he's-"

I put my hands up to stop him, "Listen, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. You don't have to explain yourself to me, I just hope you're OK."

"Thank you Marinette." He said and moved to leave before turning back around to face me, "Actually, I could use your help."

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

I left a note for Alya, quickly explaining the situation and promising some hot gossip as soon as I returned, I grabbed my extra uniform and I went back to the library.

I handed the uniform to Adrien and helped him wrap the scarf around his face and put on the cloak.

"Do I look like a guard from Aristol?" he asked, striking a pose.

I shrugged, His shoulders were too broad underneath the cloak and it was obviously too short for him and his shoes which were obviously not the guard issued boots poked through underneath the cloak but other than that he looked fine.

"Ok. Let's go."

We both went to the stable to saddle horses, I saddled mine and Alya's and we left the castle gates no questions asked.

We managed to go through the city without incident, and when we finally left the city gates we both finally took out hoods off.

"Wow, I didn't realize how confining those things are." The Prince said, and I nodded. I felt the same way, I hated these hoods.

"So, where are we going?" I asked, and he looked uncomfortable,

"i was going to take the rest of the way on my own-"

"Not happening." I cut him off. There was no way I'd let him take off on his own, Alya would kill me if anything happened to him.

"I'll be fine Marinette, I just have something I need to do and I'll be right back."

I shook my head, "listen, I know that you have a right to privacy and that I'm probably the last person you want to go along with you but you have to understand this. My job, my sole purpose here is to ensure your safety. I will not leave you, even if that means I have to follow you against your wishes."

He thought for a second and then his mouth quirked up in a crooked smile.

"All right Marinette, let's go."

I let out the breath I had unconsciously been holding and smiled back at him,

"Lead the way."

We both kicked our horses into a gallop going towards a large collection of trees, Adrien leading the way.

When we entered the tree line of the forest we slowed to a walk.

"We have to be careful in here, the forest is dangerous."

"Where are we going?" I asked him but he avoided the answer.

"How long have you been a guard Marinette?"

I remember exactly when I joined the guard, two years after I began training with Master FU.

"Four years ago."

"Wow, that's a long time, no wonder you're so good at your job."

I laughed, "No, thank you but, I'm terrible at the job and I'm also the newest one. The rest of those girls are legacies, their parents and their parents before them all protected royalty. I'm too clumsy."

He shook his head, "I don't believe it I've seen you fight, you move with too much grace to be clumsy."

I could feel my whole face tinged red, "When have you ever seen me fight?"

"Oh, um- when that cooking monster, thing, attacked. I was watching."

"I didn't know you were there." I said, thinking back to the attack.

"I was- hiding." he finished lamely.

If he was watching then he might have seen me help Cat Noir, I wouldn't know how to explain that.

"How much did you see?"

"Are you talking about the beginning when you nearly talked the monster down, or were you talking about the end when you helped those who were injured."

great, he did see me helping Cat Noir.

"Relax Marinette," he said, laughing. "I'm not going to go tell my father you helped one of our countries most wanted criminals. I'm fond of you, I'd hate to see your head cut off."

I smiled, I might have been more scared of that last part if my whole body wasn't screaming in celebration, "He's fond of me!"

"He not a criminal from where I stand, he helped us, and he saved my life. He's a hero."

Saying those words I realized just how wrong I was when I doubted Cat Noir, even if he was just out to get my Miraculous, he did save me, and he really was a hero.

he smiled, "He has stolen the ceremonial crown that has been passed down through my family line for generations."

"It doesn't sound like you're too sad."

"No, I hated the thing, my father made me wear it on most official holidays, it weighed a ton and was absolutely hideous."

"It seems like-"

I was cut off when someone jumped up in front of my horse causing her to rear up, sending me toppling off the back and onto the ground.

I was up in a second drawing out my sword, stepping in front of my horse to calm her down.

"What do you want?" I asked the masked man, my sword at the ready.

"Your dirty Aristol head on a pike." the man said, spitting at my feet.

"Leave friend, I don't want to hurt you." I said in warning.

"I'm not your friend, and you will give me all your valuables and I will think about sparing your life."

Adrien leapt from his saddle and the man drew two knives and took one step towards him.

I moved to go in front of Adrien but he put his hand on my shoulder, "no it's fine Marinette."

He took of my cloak and the scarf and handed it to me. He then took of a necklace from around his neck and handed it to the man.

The mans face paled as soon as he inspected the necklace, and he took several steps back and then fell to his knees.

"It's you."

Taking advantage of the mans fallen state, Adrien stepped forward, taking the necklace back from him, placing it back around his neck and tucking it under his shirt before I could see it.

The man jumped too his feet, "No. It can't be. You wouldn't be here, with her." He said looking at me vehemently.

I moved forward, my sword at the ready but Adrien put his hand on my arm.

"Let's go Marinette, he isn't going to hurt us."

Adrien placed his arm around my shoulder, sending waves of heat to my face. He turned us around towards the horses.

"That's what you think." The man said. I turned around and saw him lunge at me. I shrunk back in defense but Adrien lept between us and punched the man, sending him sprawling on the ground.

"Leave her alone, that's your last warning."

The man stood up from the ground and ran off into the forest leaving me standing in shook, wondering at what had just happened.

"What-what was that?" I asked him.

He sighed and mounted his horse, I followed suit, waiting for an answer.

"The loyalists have their base camp somewhere in this forest, he was a member of them."

"Who are the loyalists?"

"There are those in this country that think that the alliance between Bardengrad and Aristol is an offence to the country, aligning ourselves with the ones who killed my mother. This-." he said pulling out the necklace, "-is my mothers crest. It is a revered symbol amongst the loyalists."

"These loyalists, they want to destroy the alliance?"

"Worse than that. They want to dethrone my father, they think that he is corrupt."

I shook my head, "Does you father know about them? What is e doing about it?"

Adrien scoffed, "He isn't doing anything about it. It doesn't worry him, nothing worries him."

"This isn't right, they aren't right. Can't they see that we're just trying to mend the relations between our two countries?"

He shook his head, "they don't see it that way, they think that this is what Aristol has been planning all along. First they kill our Queen, starting a war they couldn't finish, and now they're bargaining to insert their blood into out royal line."

"That isn't true, we didn't kill her."

He stopped his horse looking out into the forest away from me, I wished I could see his facial expression. This topic probably cut a little too close to home for him. His country may have lost their queen but he lost his mother.

I urged my horse closer to his and I put my hand on his shoulder. He turned to look at me and I offered him a comforting smile. Master Fu sent me here to find the miraculous and to discover the truth behind Queen Emilie's disappearance, and I was promising myself I would do my best, for Adrien.

"I'm sorry Adrien. We don't need to talk about it if you don't want to."

His eyes still held a somber gaze but his mouth smiled lightly, "That's going to be hard."

"Why?"

He looked up and I followed his gaze and could barely make out a tree house disguised in an overgrown tree.

"What is that?" I asked.

"It was my mothers favorite place in the whole world."


	17. Chapter 16

I felt wrong stepping up into a place that obviously meant so much to Adrien. I felt like an intruder on such an intimate moment but as soon as we entered the tree house, he took me straight over to one corner where several drawings hung up.

"Look at these, she drew them all, she was amazing."

Adrien had a way of drawing people in closer. Making them feel comfortable, calm.

I moved closer, inspecting each picture closely.

"That's you, isn't it." I said pointing to the one that depicted a younger King Gabriel holding an adorable small blonde haired child.

Adrien blushed, nodding.

I scanned the rest of the photos, she really was an amazing artist, they were beautiful drawings, capturing her life.

I stopped short when I came eye to eye with a familiar drawing of the moth miraculous.

Shock must have registered openly on my face because Adrien put his hand on my shoulder, "What's wrong?"

I shook my head quickly, "Nothing. They're just so pretty."

He looked at them with admiration, I wanted to reach up and pull the drawing that showed the miraculous down but I didn't want to seem suspicious. It looked nearly identical to the drawings that Master Fu had claimed to have drawn.

I was pulled from the wall when Adrien crossed the room and went to a dresser that sat in the corner of the room.

He opened the first drawer and pulled out a familiar brown jewelry box, a miraculous holder.

I put my hand over my mouth to keep from gasping, my mind suddenly reeling coming up with thousands of situations where Adrien was Hawkmoth.

"What's that?" I asked him as he pocketed the box.

"Oh, it's nothing. Just something that used to belong to my mother."

I eyed him for another second, unsure of what to do. That "something" was definitely a miraculous. I thought for a second about Adrien being hawkmoth but I almost laughed at the idea. Adrien was to perfect, to manicured to be moonlighting as a supervillain.

If he wasn't hawkmoth then that could only mean that there is another miraculous in play.

I thought for a second on how to get it from him. This was one of the miraculous I was sent here to retrieve, I knew exactly which one, or at least I have my suspicions. The only other miraculous missing from master Fu's collection other than hawkmoths and Cat Noirs, was the peacock miraculous, and here I was, less than five feet away from it.

I couldn't ask him for it, not when it belonged to his mother. I sighed deeply, my one goal in coming here was to retrieve the lost miraculouses but it seems that I couldn't do even that right.

Adrien smiled brightly at me, "Are you ready to go."

I smiled back, I couldn't help it, he was infectious.

"Let's go."

The ride back was a lot calmer than the ride there. we laughed, talking about nothing and anything at the same time. Spending the trip trying not to think about how to get that jewelry box in his pocket.

When we finally got into the city limits he threw back on his disguise and we rode back into the city gates.

I unsaddled the horses and took back my uniform.

"Thank you Marinette."

I could feel my face grow red, "No, it was no problem, any time, your grace."

He took my hand gently and brought it to his lips holding onto it for a moment before flashing a brilliant grin, "Adrien, call me Adrien. you've saved my life again, I am forever in your debt."

He turned to leave and I stood speechless for a few minutes, cradling the hand that he had touched, my face engulfed with flames.

Only pausing when I had finally registered what he had said, what did he mean by again?

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

I went back to the barracks to put back my borrowed uniform and then I needed to find Alya, I had left a note but she would still probably be furious.

When I finally found her in Chloe's quarters she glared at me from across the room and stood up.

"Please excuse me Princess," She said to Chloe as she stalked across the room and grabbed my shoulder pulling me out.

She shut the door and took me down the hall a little, away from prying ears and she finally turned around.

"Where have you been Mari?! I know what you said in the letter but, how did you want me to explain Adrien's disapearance to the King. The man was shouting down the castle walls asking for my head."

I nodded, she was right, it was selfish of me.

"That being said, I fully expect to be given all the juicy details right now."

I gave her a summary of our day out , Alya being the perfect listener, sighing and squealing at all the right parts.

When I had finally finished Alya put her hand on my arm, "You like him."

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, I've already told you-"

"No Marinette, you _really_ like him... What are you going to do?"

I paused at that, as usual, Alya instantly got to the heart of the matter.

"I- I, nothing. He barely knows I exist."

She scoffed, "Marinette, he just spent the whole day with you."

I shrugged, "I was convenient. I was there, I'm sure that if you were in the library this morning then he would've asked you."

She rolled her eyes but then stopped, "Why were you in the library this morning?"

I opened my mouth to tell the truth to tell her everything but I couldn't, I knew I couldn't. "I was just looking into the history of the country."

She laughed, "No really, what were you doing?"

I just shrugged and she stopped smiling.

"What?" I asked her.

"What's going on with you Marinette? You're gone all the time, you're always tired, and you're lying to me. You were always a little this way, always disappearing but I figured you deserve your space, but now, it's like you don't trust me."

I didn't know what to say, how could I tell her that it wasn't my secret to tell.

I kept my mouth closed I didn't want to lie to her, Our friendship meant more to me then telling her lies but I knew that I couldn't tell her the truth either.

"Please Alya, This thing I'm involved in, it's bigger than me, it's bigger than you, please just leave it alone."

She took a step back, her eyes not leaving mine, "I thought out friendship was important Marinette, but I understand what it's like to put duty above all else, just know that if at any moment I have suspicion that you are putting any of us in danger, I won't hesitate.

I nodded, She didn't have to worry, everything I do is for the safety of our country, the people I love.

"I understand, I wouldn't expect anything less.

She nodded, and managed to smile back, "then let's go do our job."

We followed Chloe to dinner where I stood near the back door while Alya stood by the balcony keeping an eye out while Nino kept her company.

I smiled as I saw how close they had become. I was happy for her but I couldn't help feeling jealous at the way he looked at her.

We moved back down to the barracks after the Princess retired for the night.

"Marinette?" Alya said from across the room as we lay in our beds, surrounded by loud snores from the other guard.

"Yeah?" I asked

"I know I've been acting weird, I'm just under a lot of pressure, with all of this going on, you're still my best friend."

"Just be careful." she whispered softly.

We went to sleep not needing to say anything else.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

I found myself walking right behind Chloe as she headed towards a local dress shop to get fitted for a dress.

As she stood in the fitting room screeching at the tailors and Rose stared, gushing at the subtle beauty of the dress as Chloe screamed about adding more jewels

I was staring out the shop window wishing I could be anywhere but here when I heard screams coming from outside.

Rose and I both rushed outside and we saw a large metal man attacking nearby buildings with hammers.

Rose and I both ran into the store and Rose turned to me instantly, she was the youngest, least experienced guard, she did not lead well but took orders perfectly.

I whipped off my cloak drawing my sword.

"Do you have a back door?" I asked the shop owner who nodded frighteningly and pointed to the back.

"Good. Rose, take her highness to the back and get as far away from here as you can. I'll try to keep the monster distracted.

She nodded and I stepped out of the shop and ran across the street into an Alleyway sheathing my sword.

"Tikki, spots on."

I moved as Lady bug, across the top of the buildings and leapt onto the iron man as he yelled about some petty injustice he had suffered.

I knocked him in the head with my yo-yo, "Is there any way, you'd just hand over your akuma and calm down peacefully?" I asked him with sarcasm.

The man just screamed and swung at me with his large hammer. I deftly moved out of the way and he slammed his hammer into hi metal body with a sickening crunch.

The hit sent his huge heavy body sprawling to the ground and I stood on his metal chest victoriously.

THe man swung his hammer at me a second time but this time I wrapped my yo-yo around it and managed to yank it out of his hands. I slammed it down onto the road and the wooden handle broke into two but no butterfly came out.

I sighed, that was my best guess as I looked up to the large metal man who was coming to his feet. He had nothing else on him, this was going to be harder than I thought.

He moved after me, he was big, but he was really slow, I lept from rooftop to roof top, narrowly missing his hands.

My foot caught a loose shingle and I plummeted to the ground. I caught myself, last minute, with my yo-yo but the man grabbed me and ripped my yo-yo out of my hand in the action.

I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe. My vision was growing spotty as I struggled to bring in air but his hand was crushing me.

The man dropped me suddenly when Cat Noir came out of nowhere and slammed the metal man in the face with his baton.

He moved to help me up as the big man regrouped, "It's always a pleasure to see you LB."

I smiled back at him, "Same, thanks for the save."

His grin widened, "No, Purroblem."

WE both turned to the metal man who was back on his feet.

"So what's the plan?" CAt Noir asked.

"I don't know, the akuma must be under the armor."

"How are we going to do that?"

I shrugged, I had no idea. The monster charged us and we both dodged out of the way. he tripped taking out the front half of the watch tower. An idea sprung to mind.

"Cat Noir, the watch tower!"

I sprinted to retrieve my yo-yo and as soon as I did, I used my lucky charm which gave me, a mirror.

I jumped on top action landing on a roof, using the suns reflection in the mirror to momentarily blind the metal man and I swung down at him knocking him down in the streets.

"Cat Noir, now!" Cat Noir used his power to take out the remaining support on the tower and the tower came crashing down on top of the metal man.

A small butterfly came out of the wreckage and I deevilized it.

After using my power to clean up the mess, I turned to Cat Noir, ready to congratulate him on a job well done but before I could, he interrupted.

"Meet me at the edge of the cliffs as soon as you can."

I thought about Chloe and Alya, who I would need to report to.

"Can it wait till...-"

"No. He inserted, this is important, please."

I sighed my mind instantly going towards my earlier suspicions but I shook my head trying to get rid of the doubts.

"Ok. I'll meet you there as soon as I can."

I moved to some dark alley to detransform, I bought some food for Tikki and retrieved my cloak from the dress shop.

"Be careful Marinette, he could be dangerous."

I nodded my head, going over the last line of Master Fu's letter, "Kill him if necessary, you cannot trust him."


End file.
